Population health management vendors offer mixed services, varying effectiveness, KLAS says
From customer service to advanced data analytics, each vendor has its strengths and weaknesses, report claims.
(Rhoda Baer)
While more healthcare providers are focusing on population health technology, a new report by KLAS Research suggests providers should weigh the strengths and weaknesses of population health vendors before considering a partnership.
Data aggregation is an important tool for any organization seeking to wrap its arms around population health, especially if electronic medical records are the focus, but to date no population health vendor has proven capable of building data feeds easily and at scale. Enli and i2i Population Health can make aggregation simpler for providers with a mere handful of electronic health record feeds, while Valence Health handles more feeds but requires more effort from its customers. Philips Wellcentive strikes a balance, according to KLAS, and Health Catalyst, HealthEC and Arcadia Healthcare have scored top reviews.
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Providers told KLAS that the best data comes from combining a number of different sources, and among fully rated population health vendors, athenahealth, Optum and Philips Wellcentive rank highly, with a high percentage of their customers merging both clinical data from EHRs and claims data from payers. Cerner customers tend to aggregate from payers and non-Cerner EHRs. Epic users are in the early stages of doing both, KLAS said.
KLAS also examined population health vendors who are responsible to customer needs and can adapt quickly. Philips Wellcentive provides strong guidance, while Enli delivers quick turnaround on requests, KLAS said. Cerner scored high marks for collaboration with its customers. Faring worse are vendors Optum and Verscend, whose users saidy their development has been slow. Also, Explorys and Phytel customers said IBM's acquisition is affecting their service.
[Also: Preventable death rates fall when communities expand population health, study shows]
No vendor demonstrated the depth to meet all needs for all types of customers, KLAS said. Cerner and IBM Watson Health bridge the data needs of both program administrators and care managers. Allscripts and Philips Wellcentive streamline workflows for care managers and clinicians using EHRs at the point of care. Advisory Board, athenahealth, Optum and Valence, meanwhile, have difficulty keeping up with complex needs of larger customers, according to KLAS.
Twitter: @JELagasse
