Data standards are essential for the population health initiatives that serve as the backbone of value-based care, according to a panel of experts presenting at this year's Payer + Provider Summit, hosted virtually by Xtelligent Healthcare.
“The reality today is we have data that is coming from multiple sources. The collection of data is happening as we speak across so many entities," said Sheila Sudhakar, M.D., the vice president of enterprise population health/value-based care for Cigna and Evernorth and one of the session's panelists.
Players from across the healthcare continuum have access to an astronomical amount of data, all of which is geared toward helping payers, providers and patients achieve better outcomes. On the payer and provider side, in particular, data helps stakeholders better understand their populations' health needs and design more tailored interventions. This should boost outcomes and achieve value-based care success.
But as Sudhakar, as well as the other panelists from the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) and CAQH, went on to say, bringing that data together can be challenging.
"When I think about data standardization efforts and population health, you have to ensure that the health data that's collected is consistent across diverse populations and that we can better identify disparities in care delivery, health outcomes and access to resources," Kristina Rollings, CAQH Chief Growth Officer asserted. "If you don't have that, then the data isn't going to be that helpful."
Read the full article here.