What Does the Future of Population Health Management and Data Analytics Look Like in the ‘New Normal’ of Healthcare?

For years, researchers and policyholders have tried to come up with suitable options to offer high-quality healthcare to the people. Though the concept of population health management looked promising, there were a few barriers, which hindered its implementation. At the start of 2020, the COVID pandemic hit us and sent a long list of sick people to the hospitals and broke the backbone of an already weak healthcare system.

COVID affected the finances of several hospitals and taught them an important lesson- they don’t have enough resources to help COVID patients. Until the vaccine comes out, hospitals will continue to get a combination of COVID and general cases. To be better prepared, governments and health care organizations have to work together to adopt the use of data analytics and come up with suitable population health management strategies.

How can population health management and data analytics prove to be useful in the long run?

Population health management takes the help of artificial intelligence to collect the data of people and compress it into a single and actionable patient record. This largely helps healthcare organizations to identify sick people and get them the necessary care. With the advancement of technology, organizations can use the improved AI to its advantage and build up the healthcare system to meet their needs.

Here is a list of four data analytics and population health management trends that the organizations around the globe should follow to survive the ‘New Normal in healthcare-

·         Data collection via wearable technology

Smart devices (bands, rings, and watches) are very popular these days. Initially, these devices were launched to track the number of steps and calories burnt by a user. But with the latest advancements, these devices can now track sleep patterns, heart rate, blood pressure, oxygen pressure, etc. If you think about it, a user can track his/her health over time and get accurate records when needed.

With people’s permission, organizations can collect this data to analyze it further. As per Cedars Sinai’s founding, Fitbits can track the effectiveness of chemotherapy in cancer patients. Imagine what all health systems can do with this kind of data. It’s quite possible to improve population health outcomes, treatment success rates, and more.

·         Association with community organizations

Community organizations were created to offer support to the low socioeconomic sections of society. Partnership with them can prove to be useful for health systems. Community organizations know where help is needed. Health organizations can identify those areas and provide the necessary aid. This way, areas that aren’t in reach of regular healthcare will receive better care.

·         Vaccination at the right price

Vaccination is the building block of the population health strategy. One of the key population health goals is to raise the vaccine rates under-immunized population. Those who don’t choose to get vaccinated are at a greater risk of getting sick. Health care providers need to identify and connect with such people. With the help of healthcare CRM, providers can target vulnerable populations (who aren’t patients yet but share the similar traits of the existing patients) and get them the necessary care.

If and when the COVID vaccine comes out, health and wellness marketing campaigns should educate the importance of vaccination to the patients and encourage them to get vaccinated. This way, providers can eliminate the disease and put less pressure on the healthcare system by selling vaccination at the right price in densely populated areas.

·         Cultural Change

COVID pandemic has ushered a new age of analytics use and it’s safe to assume that more health care providers will join the movement. This will require a change in culture. Instead of coming up with hypothetical decisions, providers need to use the data to generate insights. Acceptance regarding this will grow as providers see the power of early impact.

Health care organizations need to support cultural change in three key areas.

1.    Hospital staff needs to understand the insights from the decision engine and should be able to explain it to the patients.

2.     To gather and analyze data, hospitals will require appropriate equipment and facilities.

3.     Workable data strategy.

The COVID pandemic made us realize how under-prepared and weak our health care system is. More such crises are right around the corner. Instead of getting beaten by them, it’s better to make the cultural shift at the earliest. Countries and their health care systems should encourage the widespread use of AI, which will reduce costs and improve patient care.

My First Haircut After Lockdown

Yesterday, I went for a haircut. After 4 months of cutting my own hair and making an absolute disaster of my hairstyle, it was high time to give special attention to my hair. 

So, I called up my barber and booked an appointment. When I reached his shop, I was impressed by the arrangements. There were sanitizers at the entry and exit doors, proper temperature checks with boards shouting- 'Please wear mask at all times'. 

Before I sat on the seat, my barber sanitized it and gave me disposable sheets to cover my upper body. He sanitized all the equipment and was himself covered in a PPE kit. 

10 minutes into my haircut, I asked him how the business was going, how many people were coming and his answers portrayed the pain caused by COVID-19. 

In the end, he said one line- Sir, yeh COVID kuch nahi hai. Normal fever hai bas. Government ne aaise hi dara rakha hai. 

Thanks to this 'Chalta Hai' attitude, India has recorded close to 1 million cases in the last 15 days. 

If 135 crore Indians keep up with this attitude, our country will never see the end of COVID-19.