| | August 20178T he healthcare industry is evolving rapidly to adjust to new care models that support the increased utilization of innovative health information technology. Through the continual advancements of these interventions, significant improvements are apparent, such as the progression of electronic health records, patient engagement and care team communication. Yet, the emergence of new digital solutions has yielded significant complications such as the fragmentation of the information landscape. Data integrity also remains an issue, including the prevalence of inefficient and overlapping fragments of patient information existing in various data silos, further complicating the attainability of a singular, accurate and thorough patient record. Healthcare organizations and entities struggle to maximize efficiency of essential operational activities, a challenge exacerbated by attempts to utilize IT infrastructures with separate systems such as data warehousing, clinical data, provider networks, care management, and member & provider portals. This can often also lead to further complications when engaging with other healthcare organizations that rely on disparate electronic medical record (EMR), practice management, billing and data management systems.Accessing a comprehensive, transparent view into a patient's medical history, as well as recommended treatments, yields enhanced decision-making, supports care management, limits preventable errors, and improves care outcomes. The provision of updated, detailed patient information also equips healthcare providers with the resources required to identify compliance-related issues and address care gaps in a timely manner. This proactive care method is essential to reduce costs and avoidable readmissions, provide quality care for all populations, and, ultimately, develop an infrastructure that supports a 360-degree patient view. By initially addressing this issue as a data problem, the Virtual Health team was determined to overcome the challenge faced by a multi-state Blues plan. Although the required data existed, processes had to be developed to find, extract, and file it. We deconstructed the challenge into three basic components: data integration, data normalization, and data binding.IN MY OPINIONOVERCOMING CHALLENGES OF DEVELOPING A 360 DEGREE PATIENT VIEWBy Jack Plotkin, CTO, Virtual HealthA definitive platform revolutionizing healthcare, Virtual Health is a collaborative idea of several industry experts that is empowering healthcare providers with streamlined operations and seamless integrations for smooth and cost effective operations.
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