Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/301968
71 Executive Briefing: Population Health parts of the organization may do to that patient," says Ms. Tom- cavage. "They need to call up the hospitalist and say, 'Here's what's been going on with this patient.' It also means PCPs need to steer patients to specialists who really are higher value." Another challenge isn't specific to physicians. Rather, it involves hospitals' and health systems' non-physician workforce, which has an incredibly important role in the dynamics of population health. "There is a lot of workflow redesign that needs to happen in the acute arena and physician practice site," says Meg Horgan, RN, senior vice president of advisory services for xG Health Solutions. Part of this modern-day, population health workflow involves staff caring for patients even after they've left the hospital or physi- cian office. The work of care managers or other staff is seem- ingly infinite. Pre-appointment planning, medication reconciliation and discharge management can prevent and eliminate barriers that derailed patients' care continuums in the past. Solving these problems, such as lack of transportation to an appointment, is ex- citing and has great potential to improve a population's health — but it also requires changes to how hospitals and health systems have traditionally functioned. How long will it take? Part of what might make population health daunting is the un- certainty around how long this transformation should, or could, take. It is difficult to master large-scale organizational, even in- dustrywide, change without a sense of pace. Dr. Steinberg says he thinks at least one thing will light a fire under hospitals. "I think the amount of time any of these things take depends on the speed with which the payment system changes," he says. "The more changes that occur in how a health system gets paid, the faster any of these required changes will occur. Some things are doable within a one-year period. Others will take five or more years. The timeline depends in part on how many different things you attack at one time." n xG Health Solutions' mission is to help health systems and others committed to high quality, value-based care succeed under risk-based payment arrangements. Our services are powered by Geisinger Health System's methods that have been proven to achieve best-in-class outcomes. xG Health is the primary provider of Geisinger's Health Care Performance Improvement Intellectual Property (IP). Action Plan. Care Redesign. Population Health Analytics. We don't just build the plan for you. We help you implement it. Visit our website and product page xghealth.com/solutions TM