Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/1034012
58 Executive Briefing Sponsored by: T he price of care is rising, incidence of chronic disease is going up and reimbursement models seem to be in perpetual flux. Amid these trends, hospitals and health systems are facing shrinking margins and mounting pressure to improve care quality while controlling costs. Spending on healthcare is increasing around the world. According to projections published in The Lancet in 2016, international healthcare spending is poised to increase to $18.28 trillion, up from $7.83 trillion in 2013. In the U.S., annual healthcare spending on inpatient, ambulatory, retail pharmaceutical, nursing facility, emergency department and dental care increased from $1.2 trillion in 1996 to $2.1 trillion in 2013, according to a comprehensive analysis published in JAMA in 2017. The authors of the analysis suggested the rise in national healthcare spend was largely attributable to increases in the price and intensity of healthcare services. However, the nation's aging population and increases in the prevalence of certain diseases were also associated with increased costs. Chronic diseases are expensive to treat and are affecting more and more Americans. The rising rate of diabetes is particularly troubling. From 1958 to 2015, the percentage of Americans with diabetes increased steadily. More than 100 million U.S. adults were living with either diabetes or prediabetes in 2015, according to CDC estimates. However, the burden of chronic disease is not exclusive to developed nations like the U.S. Developing nations face high levels of mortality as a result of chronic diseases, such as respiratory illness. By 2020, chronic diseases are projected to account for nearly three-quarters of all deaths around the world, according to the World Health Organization. As the incidence of chronic diseases rises around the globe, so does the pressure on healthcare providers to move the needle on population health. The growing number of patients with chronic illness places a considerable burden on the healthcare system. Healthcare needs a paradigm shift that makes good on the promise of value-based care without overburdening clinicians. Some might characterize such a shift as unrealistic or burdensome. But the truth is the solutions needed to support value-based care and physician workflow are already used by healthcare teams, just not as part of a collective strategy. With the rise of precision medicine and improved data sharing, clinicians equipped with the right technology and empowered by a comprehensive mission for personalized medicine can deliver care that is tailored to the individual, thereby improving outcomes and the overall health of patient populations. Actionable information: The new data paradigm Data collection is a crucial part of providers' work. Information on a patient's demographics and medical history is helpful in selecting the proper course of treatment. The transition from paper to digital records suggested a move toward convenience for providers, but the initial rollout of EHRs generated limited actionable data and left clinicians mired in burdensome administrative tasks. Several studies suggest a link between the implementation of EHRs and the escalation of a nationwide epidemic of physician burnout. One such study published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings in 2016 found physicians who used EHRs experienced higher rates of burnout than those that didn't. The study was based on a survey of more 6,000 physicians. While other research has suggested the link between EHRs and burnout was overhyped, there is little doubt that data silos, which have persisted in healthcare for years and were an aspect of early EHR applications, make it more difficult for clinicians to access the right information at the right time to inform clinical decisions. Fortunately, hospitals are no longer beholden to data silos of the past due to the rise of cloud computing and predictive analytics. With a cloud solution in place, hospitals can access what is essentially infinite computing power. This enhanced capability allows for the storage of bulk data in a single location, and self-service analytics tools powered by cloud computing deliver care alerts to clinicians based on actionable data in real time. Additionally, the continuous analysis of bulk data can reveal hidden patterns or trends among patient populations. The recognition of such patterns allows providers to identify patients at risk for chronic illness, fine-tune personalized care plans and intervene before the at-risk patient experiences a crisis health event. In short, clinical analytics can strengthen preventive care and help keep patients with chronic illness out of the hospital. "When we tell health organizations that we can predict five years ahead of time whose congestive heart failure will progress and how rapidly, they have trouble conceptualizing that," said Let's make healthcare personal…