Becker's Hospital Review

33 Executive Briefing Patientory is a population health management solution that securely assists healthcare organizations improve outcomes with blockchain cybersecurity while enabling physician coordinated care enhanced by social media inspired peer to peer patient support. 2. Connecting the entire care team Instead of struggling to coordinate care between numerous physicians, the Patientory app makes it easy for a patient's care team to connect and share data. Physicians and specialists treating the same patient can log in to Patientory and view the patient's entire care journey, including medications and health history. Additionally, an individual patient can log in to Patien- tory and communicate with all of his or her physicians at once. "When you have a system where the hospital and all the prac- titioners caring for that individual are linked together, every- body gets [data] in real time," says Frenesa Hall, MD, medical director for Principal Financial Group and Patientory investor. Coordination of care is particularly important among patients with chronic conditions who have dozens of physicians, spe- cialists and subspecialists. Unsurprisingly, care coordination between this diverse team grows complicated, and patients are often left carrying their information from physician to physician by hand. "Patientory keeps a repository of [the pa- tient's information]," says Richard DiMonda, an advisory to Patientory and lead advisor for the Technological Innovation: Generating Economic Results (TI:GER) program, a collabora- tion of Georgia's leading research universities: Emory Univer- sity and the Georgia Institute of Technology, both in Atlanta. "You go to a new physician and they can dive into your his- tory. It greatly reduces the time it takes for patients to move." In addition, because patients with chronic conditions frequently require numerous tests, duplicative tests, screenings or blood work are common and costly. Patientory's ability to coordinate care greatly reduces the likelihood of unnecessary and wasteful services. Since the whole care team can view a patient's health history, providers are much less likely to rerun tests. "I see mil- lions of dollars in savings by reducing duplication, along with improving patient compliance with medication regimens and reducing risk of medication issues," says Dr. Hall. 3. Value-based care initiatives and patient engagement As the healthcare industry introduces more value- and out- comes-based reimbursement models, Patientory can help hos- pitals achieve the performance required under value-based payment contracts by working toward interoperability and keeping protected health information safe. "[Patientory is] a driver for value-based care," says Ms. McFarlane. "It's taking value-based initiatives and transforming them into a holistic pa- tient experience." Patientory puts a different spin on the traditional healthcare model by giving patients more power in their care journey. They can use Patientory to better manage their health maintenance, appointments and care plan after they leave the hospital. This form of patient engagement is not yet widely enacted by hospi- tals and health systems. "If the patient is managing what's going on with their care and it results in better outcomes, the hospital will benefit from that as well," says Mr. DiMonda. Under value-based reimbursement, providers whose care yields positive patient outcomes gain maximum reimburse- ment. By utilizing Patientory's app, physicians can better com- municate with patients, thereby positioning themselves to provide high-quality care, address disruptions to the care plan before they turn costly and ultimately produce the best possi- ble outcomes. 4. Reducing readmission rates and penalties As part of the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program, CMS withholds up to 3 percent of Medicare reimbursement to hos- pitals that record higher-than-expected 30-day readmission rates. In fiscal year 2017, Medicare will reduce reimbursements for 2,597 hospitals due to readmissions penalties. To help hospitals reduce readmission rates, Patientory bet- ter manages the post-discharge care of patients. "Patientory gives the patient and caregiver an application on their phone that will help them better implement the post-operative pro- cedure guidelines that the hospital is going to be creating," says Mr. DiMonda. For example, it's imperative that patients with congestive heart failure closely monitor their weight. Using Patientory, providers can check in on heart failure patients and keep an eye on their weight even after they leave the hospital. Non-chronically ill pa- tients can also benefit by receiving reminders to check in with their physician via Patientory. Looking ahead The time is ripe for a change in healthcare technology. Patients and providers alike need a safe way to track medical history and coordinate care without fear of data breaches. Patientory's platform and its use of blockchain, specifically, give it an edge. "It'll take much longer to see outcomes for some of the other products on the market, not only for the hospital but also for the actual patients," says Ms. McFarlane. "You need the technol- ogy and responsibility to realize the outcomes." As the industry moves forward, Patientory is keeping the focus on the patient by increasing security measures and working to connect all the players of the healthcare team — including the patient. n Patientory puts a different spin on the traditional healthcare model by giving patients more power in their care journey.

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