In order to effectively manage population health, accountable care organizations’ technology needs go far beyond electronic health systems. A recent IDC spotlight has identified the IT systems and technological abilities ACOs need to effectively monitor the health of a population.
While EMRs provide accountable care organizations (ACOs) with data critical for population health management, additional health IT tools that integrate patient data from multiple sources, support the management of care plans and enable patient communications are required as well, according to a report from Mass.-based research firm IDC Health Insights.
It’s hard to go too long these days without hearing someone hype the benefits of big data. It’s to the point where the term is all but a cliché. Hard to believe that’s it’s still a fairly recent coinage.
“Maybe three years ago?” says Cynthia Burghard research director for accountable care IT strategies at IDC Health Insights, when asked when she first heard the now-ubiquitous term. “It’s still relatively new, across all industries. Some industries have used pieces of the big data and analytics technology stack, but not in its entirety.”
A new report from research firm IDC Health Insights examines the information technology needs of accountable care organizations beyond an electronic health records system.