Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/1529631
28 INNOVATION Top 9 population health platforms By Giles Bruce Most health systems aiming to buy a new population health platform plan to invest in downside risk and value-based care initiatives, according to health IT researcher KLAS Research. Here are the population health vendors that received the most considerations for purchase between July 2022 and June 2024, per the survey of 40 large acute care organizations published Oct. 1: 1. Arcadia: 14 2. Epic: 9 3. Innovaccer: 9 4. Lightbeam: 8 5. Health Catalyst: 4 6. Oracle Health: 3 7. NextGen Healthcare: 2 8. Optum: 2 9. HealthEC: 1 n Why Northwell Health is investing in a workforce platform By Giles Bruce N orthwell Holdings, the for-profit venture capital arm of New Hyde Park, N.Y.-based Northwell Health, has invested in a workforce startup used by the health system's 21 hospitals. Northwell backed Prolucent in a series A funding round to expand the company's artificial intelligence-powered workforce coordination tools to health systems across the U.S. "We see significant market potential for Prolucent's vendor-neutral workforce management solutions, which streamline labor management across permanent, part- time, per diem, and travel staff on one platform," Northwell Holdings Managing Director Kate O'Donnell said in an Oct. 16 statement. "Prolucent is reshaping the way healthcare systems manage their workforce, delivering the tools needed to cut labor costs, improve operational efficiency, and strengthen competitive advantage." The platform helps health systems get competitive rates and transparent pricing for contract labor, managing staffing orders, fulfillment, credentialing and invoicing. It also has a data analytics tool for insights into labor utilization and cost efficiency. n Top 3 health IT issues, per MedStar Health's CIO By Giles Bruce Health system CIOs have increasing responsibilities, from traditional IT functions to business and digital transformation. Becker's caught up with Scott MacLean, senior vice president and CIO of MedStar Health, a $7.7 billion, 10-hospital system based in Columbia, Md., Oct. 2 at Becker's Health IT + Digital Health + RCM Conference in Chicago to ask about his priorities for the near future. Mr. MacLean also serves as board chair of the College of Health Information Management Executives professional organization. Question: What are the top one to three issues you're focusing on in the next year in the health IT space? Scott MacLean: Business transformation. We all know we've been through the COVID period, and for us, we promised our board and our bond rating agencies that we'd make a certain margin target across a four-year period. We saw some financial stability through that period, and we knew it was going to be up and down based on reimbursement and getting government funding through CARES and FEMA. We have been enjoying some stability now. But we're also looking at the way costs keep rising and reimbursement doesn't rise as fast. So we're looking to expand our margin through business transformation. For a lot of initiatives to help grow revenues — either through new ambulatory sites or improving our revenue cycle and then looking at our efficiencies — technology is a component of almost every one. In fact, I've been working with our COO and our CMO about thinning out the agenda that we've had to be able to make room for these initiatives and really be able to pay attention to them. Infrastructure renewal. We're spending a lot of investment in infrastructure and making sure that our network and our data centers and telephony can be as resilient and reliable as possible. We have a multiyear effort going on, because all of the applications — including the phones and anything we want to do with artificial intelligence and virtual care — all depend on solid networks. Future care models. e third thing is supporting the next generation of care interventions. How do we figure out ways we can apply technology to make the care process more efficient, knowing the population's aging and we have shortage of clinicians? n