Yes, you read that right! A study finds that a Boston area practice, Family Practice Group, improved its HEDIS measure care gap metrics by as much as 31% by partnering with HealthHelper. But wait...there's more! The improvement came virtually with no extra effort by the practice staff, which is incredibly important given the current state of primary care in the US.
"HealthHelper is filling a real gap for us and taking a tremendous amount of work off our plate. Their combination of technology and services helps us improve contract performance, optimize provider schedules, and improve clinical quality. Our patients, providers, and staff all love it!"
-Dr. Laura Zucker, Lead Primary Care Physician at Family Practice Group.
Let’s jump straight into the results. The study revealed that in 2022 HealthHelper scheduled 1,164 appointments for Family Practice Group. Leveraging proprietary multi-modal drip campaigns, HealthHelper scheduled 43% of the patients who were contacted. And, the scheduling was completed in a highly scalable and consumer-centric fashion, with 71% of those appointments being scheduled entirely via HealthHelper's texting automation.
More importantly, the improvements in HEDIS quality metrics were significant and included both process and outcome measures. The practice experienced the following improvements from partnering with HealthHelper:
Breast cancer screening rates increased from 72 to 82 percent
Blood pressure control (<140/90 mm Hg) rates rose from 61 to 81 percent
Diabetic blood pressure control (<140/90 mm Hg) rates improved from 69 to 85 percent
A1C control (< 9%) improved from 66 to 79 percent
Attributed patients with visits increased from 64 to 72 percent
The results of the study conducted with Family Practice Group show that HealthHelper had a significant positive impact on patient outcomes. Moreover, the improvement in diabetic blood pressure control rates and A1C levels are both notable as they exceed the national average for adults with diabetes, which is 52.5% for blood pressure control and 45.8% for A1C control, as reported by the CDC. The increase in blood pressure control rates from 61% to 81% is also significant, considering that the national average for adults with hypertension is 45.7% and only 1 in 4 of those adults have their condition under control, according to the CDC.
The results of the study also show an improvement in process measures, an important component of high-quality preventive care. The increase in breast cancer screening rates from 72% to 82% is noteworthy, as it exceeds the national average of 72.4% for women aged 50-74, as reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Additionally, the increase in the number of attributed patients with visits from 64% to 72% is a positive sign, as it helps practices improve preventive care and the accuracy of their risk coding - which is such an important ingredient in value based care success.
Overall, the results of the study demonstrate the effectiveness of HealthHelper in improving patient outcomes, increasing patient engagement, and driving practice success.
So... how'd we do it?
HealthHelper drove these improvements through a technology-enabled service that offloaded practice staff of tedious panel management work. We acted as an extension of Family Practice Group's staff, working directly in their EHR augmented by our Panel Management Platform's scalable and automated workflows.
We began to schedule patients and deliver results in a matter of weeks, demonstrating a quick and easy onboarding process. Our Panel Management Platform ingested patient data from various sources, which included the EHR and population health tool. Then, via our proprietary algorithm and advanced data analytics, we prioritized patients for outreach. Our team of experts conducted chart reviews to confirm and validate the care gaps and the need for outreach in order to reduce patient friction from inaccurate outreach. Once confirmed, we placed patients onto our automated Care Outreach Drip Campaigns, which include a proprietary sequence of text messages, phone calls, and emails to directly schedule high-value appointments at the practice and close gaps in care outside of the office.
Furthermore, we're able to reach out to underserved populations as the technology allows for outreach in languages other than English. Statistics about the patient panel and outreach results are available in real-time via analytics dashboards. And lastly, to stay in lock step with the practice, we held regular meetings to adjust patient prioritization algorithms and outreach based on the needs of the practice at that particular time, which may include patient attribution, dormant patients, group visits, provider departure, and much more.
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HEDIS measures
References
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2022). Breast Cancer Screening. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/cancer/breast/basic_info/screening.htm
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2022). Facts About Hypertension. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/bloodpressure/facts.htm#:~:text=Only%20about%201%20in%204,have%20their%20condition%20under%20control.&text=About%20half%20of%20adults%20(45,includes%2037%20million%20U.S.%20adults.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2021). High Blood Pressure. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/bloodpressure/index.htm
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2021). Diabetes Report Card 2020. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/library/reports/reportcard.html
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2021). Early Release of Selected Estimates Based on Data from the 2020 National Health Interview Survey. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhis/earlyrelease/ER-HoursWorked-508.pdf