The power of joined up data to understand population health

What has Hertfordshire got in common with Mississippi and Rhode Island? What is the common ground between these different health systems?

These are the questions being put to our panel at the King’s Fund on 19 November. 

Over the summer, MedeAnalytics has been using a number of speaking opportunities to test a hypothesis: linking data informs better care. We have used a number of speaking opportunities to test this with different audiences and professionals including at a university conference in Salford, at the Health and Care Innovation Expo in September, and in October at a session for health IT professionals in London.

We used some initiatives in Hertfordshire as the benchmark. What Hertfordshire is achieving is impressive and we were trying to find out where this is also happening in other vanguard sites, in the wider NHS and globally. The opportunities for redesigning services based on a radical new clarity are significant.

There is a common theme in that people are struggling with information governance and can’t create an environment where all parties feel comfortable linking patient records across all care systems, including health and social care.

In Hertfordshire they have managed to overcome this and are starting to see benefits to patients, including avoiding unnecessary hospital attendances. 

‘There are lessons to be learned from how they have used these insights to align incentives and drive improved outcomes’

At the same time, colleagues in the US have been doing some game changing work with the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, a group of 36 health insurance organisations and companies that provides medical insurance to more than 106 million Americans. This includes in Mississippi, which is the poorest state in the union.

There are lessons to be learned from how they have used these insights to align incentives and drive improved outcomes.

Linked data means there can be an enabling of health and wellbeing that is driven by analyses of total care costs and outcomes across populations and population segments. Relevant interventions can be targeted at population groups with similar health and care needs, while at the same time gaining an understanding of what is consuming scarce health and care resources.

It allows us to break out of the traditional medical model of care delivery, moving towards something that is more needs led, personal and precise. 

We will present the culmination of our summer research at the King’s Fund annual conference on 19 November. Over breakfast we will convene some of the people we’ve spoken with to share what they are doing.

This will include:
● The care home vanguard in Hertfordshire that has linked data across health and social care and is using it to reduce admissions from care homes into hospital. This presentation will also cover the HomeFirst scheme, which aims to optimise care in a patient home.
● A US accountable care organisation expert who will explain the work going on in Rhode Island and Mississippi.
● Simon Jones, who is pioneering the use of predicative analytics for patient pathways, such as admission risk and falls prevention.
● Mark Davies, the European medical director for MedeAnalytics, who has worked in a number of national roles in health information – most recently as medical director at the Health and Social Care Information Centre. He was also a GP in Yorkshire for more than 20 years.
● Wayne Parslow, the general manager for MedeAnalytics, who has extensive experience of introducing technology into healthcare. 

We hope you will come and join the discussion.

Helen Parslow is director of marketing and business development EMEA for MedeAnalytics.

See kingsfund.org.uk/events/kings-fund-annual-conference-2015 for more information or email helen.parslow@medeanalytics.co.uk