Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/1076559
52 value to providers, payers and patients, we can make change happen. Optum has been tackling this challenge by building personal relationships between payer and provider CIOs. I work closely with my colleagues to understand our business relationships and I've been amazed at the good we can do for everyone involved once we've built that relationship. For example, there's still a surprising amount of faxing and paper shuffling in healthcare. We've seen real improvements in some of our biggest relationships by simply taking paper and fax out of the equation. Doing this, we create higher-value opportunities with data sharing and integration. We also help patients by streamlining processes that involve them, such as medical necessity and patient account services. Medicare programs can serve as models for collaboration The above example is just one of many instances of effective payer-provider collaboration. In fact, some of the best examples can be found in Medicare arrangements. Medicare Advantage, Medicare ACO and other advanced payment models have seen significant success in data sharing and managing patients. Medicare programs have proven the importance of reporting. Metrics matter when it comes to assessing quality and reimbursement, especially as risk-based contracting requires administration to answer the fundamental question of how to quantify outcomes. Medicare's Five-Star Quality Rating System and Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set systems have proven to work well in risk-based relationships. The above Medicare programs — especially Medicare Advantage — are mature models, where the government has done a lot of trial and error to help us develop similar models in commercial settings. Provider and payer CIOs need each other In the coming years, effectively sharing data and patient insights will become an even more critical portion of the CIO's role. As Medicare programs continue to evolve, commercial risk arrangements will become the norm and utilization incentives will continue to shift. To achieve these and future risk arrangements, providers can apply the expertise of the payer community to manage longitudinal data, risk and relationships. And payers should share that experience, knowing their success depends on the providers' success. As incentives shift, organizational leaders will look to CIOs to lead payer, provider collaboration – and that means sharing and utilizing patient data and insights to usher in the future of health care. We all contributed to the problem, but we're all part of the solution. When we collaborate, health systems work better for everyone involved, most importantly for the patients we serve. n See more ideas that move health forward, and learn how Optum is powering modern health care with the latest solutions and technologies. www.optum. com/healthinsights John Santelli leads Optum Technology, which serves the broad customer base of Optum® and Minnetonka, Minn.-based UnitedHealthcare®. John also serves as UnitedHealth Group's chief information officer where he is responsible for technology strategy and delivery across the enterprise. John joined UnitedHealth Group in 1986 and has extensive experience in software engineering and application development. He has served as CIO since 2007, and is credited for leading enterprise architecture and foundational technology capabilities within UnitedHealth Group. Optum is a leading health services and innovation company dedicated to helping make the health system work better for everyone. Optum combines technology, data and expertise to improve the delivery, quality and efficiency of health care. Hospitals, doctors, pharmacies, employers, health plans, government agencies and life sciences companies rely on Optum services and solutions to solve their most complex challenges. "We all contributed to the problem, but we're all part of the solution. When we collaborate, health systems work better for everyone involved..." — John Santelli, Chief Infor- mation Officer, UnitedHealth Group, and Executive Vice President, Optum Technology