Sigmify for Healthcare
Sigmify for Healthcare
There are significant cost pressures on the Healthcare industry as it restructures and adjusts to changes in evolving policy framework – whether these changes have already been legislated or are anticipated. Whatever direction the policy framework takes – the cost pressures will remain. That’s a given. Providers, Payors and People – for we are all current or future patients, are interested in doing their best to bend this rising cost curve.
Healthcare itself can be divided into two parts – Healthcare that gets provided in Hospitals, Clinics, Rehab Centers, various Pre-Acute, Acute and Post Acute Care facilities; and Healthcare that is on-going, outside of these Acute Care and related facilities. Care that includes following instructions, taking medications on time, eating the right stuff, exercising – doing things under our control.
The Healthcare delivery system has so far been focused on care provided through these facilities. We have state of Healthcare facilities for this is where our attention and investment been directed so far. There is an increasing realization that more can be done before people become patients and have a need for these facilities. And more can be done, after patients come out of these facilities, to ensure that these patients do not have use for these facilities again – at least not on account of lack of actions that could prevent such an occurrence.
Prevention is better than cure.
This means breaking down the walls of these facilities; on extending care beyond these walls. Ensuring that things go well with the patient even when the patient is not under constant supervision and care. This involves building care teams; putting in place tools, technologies, methods to deliver and monitor patient care on an ongoing basis.
Through the Continuum of Care…
The care continuum
The continuum of care is really holistic care – treating not just a specific ailment but care that is focused on wellness in all aspects of the life an individual.
As populations age there is an increasing demand for Long Term Care to manage serious illnesses and co-morbidities, end-of-life transitions… in other words care that will be provided mostly outside the walls of the facilities talked about earlier. This care will be delivered more at the two ends of the continuum of care and lesser in middle part of this continuum.
While the amount of Healthcare delivered towards the middle of the continuum may be lesser in terms of quantity – it is very high cost. Anything we can do to reduce the demand on Acute Care and related services will help in bending the cost curve significantly. Therein lies the biggest value of this holistic approach to Healthcare. The better job we do at delivering this holistic care, the more we will reduce the demand on Acute Care and related services.
As we mentioned earlier, a lot attention and investment has gone into Acute Care and related facilities. There are numerous technology solutions like EMRs, EHRs, Revenue Cycle Management and Patient Administration solutions that address the needs of such facilities. Towards the middle of this Continuum of Care.
Need for a different kind of approach for Population Health, Care Management and Coordination
The financial and risk burdens in Health Care are shifting. Providers are on the hook to carry more financial risk. Payors assess risk differently in order to remain profitable. As a result, the needs of Care Management solutions for the Continuum of Care are quite different from those of solutions for Acute Care and related facilities.
Acute Care solutions are reactive. Patients fall ill. They come in. They are provided care. Care is administered.
Care Management solutions need to be proactive. Patients need to be identified. Recruited. Their care needs to be planned. Communicated. Care is largely self-administered.
Acute Care Solutions are focused on the middle of the Continuum of Care, at care provided in Acute Care facilities, whereas Care Management solutions need to focus on the two ends of the Continuum of Care – outside the boundaries of the Acute care and related facilities.
The Last Word
This is addressed by Sigmify Healthcare solutions. Sigmify Healthcare solutions provide an option to have an end-to-end unified approach to providing Care. Starting with initial Outreach through On-boarding, Care Planning, Care Management, Patient Engagement, Review and Repeat. Sigmify Healthcare solutions also provide capabilities to manage other tasks related to Referrals, Revenue Cycle, Compliance.