Huntsville Hospital Health System leverages Watson Health to ease its transition to value-based care
Company Size
1,000+
Region
- America
Country
- United States
Product
- IBM Watson Health
- IBM Phytel Outreach
- IBM Phytel Insight
- IBM Phytel Coordinate
- IBM Phytel Remind
Tech Stack
- Cloud Computing
- Data Analytics
- Electronic Medical Records (EMR)
Implementation Scale
- Enterprise-wide Deployment
Impact Metrics
- Customer Satisfaction
- Productivity Improvements
Technology Category
- Analytics & Modeling - Big Data Analytics
- Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Data Exchange & Integration
Applicable Industries
- Healthcare & Hospitals
Applicable Functions
- Business Operation
- Quality Assurance
Use Cases
- Predictive Maintenance
- Remote Patient Monitoring
Services
- Data Science Services
- System Integration
About The Customer
The Huntsville Hospital Health System is located in Huntsville, Alabama. Originally founded in 1895, today the health system is the third-largest publicly owned hospital system in the nation with more than 1,800 beds and 12,000 employees. It is also a teaching facility for the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s (UAB) Family Practice and Internal Medicine Residency Programs. The Huntsville Hospital Physician Network is an important component of this health system. The network comprises five primary care practices and 21 PCPs. While the Huntsville Hospital Physician Network does not currently have any value-based contracts in place, executives there recognize such contracts are an important consideration for the future. As a result, the organization has been taking steps to earn patient-centered medical home (PCMH) recognition from the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) in the near future.
The Challenge
Huntsville Hospital Health System, located in Huntsville, Alabama, realized it needed to change the way technology was being used across its five primary care practices and 21 PCPs that comprise the Huntsville Hospital Physician Network. The organization was preparing for value-based contracts and aiming to earn patient-centered medical home (PCMH) recognition from the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA). However, they faced challenges in incorporating population health management (PHM) principles, which required reviewing the information contained in electronic medical records (EMRs) and verifying documentation from both internal and external providers is accurate and up-to-date. Another issue was the way patient data was being entered into the EMR, which was not standardized and led to inaccuracies in measurements. These issues needed to be resolved to set the organization on the right course for value-based contracts and PCMH recognition.
The Solution
Huntsville Hospital Health System implemented the Watson Health platform to enable provider-led, scalable PHM. The use of the Watson Health platform accelerated after Huntsville secured a Center for Medicare and Medicaid Improvement (CMMI) grant and added two clinician advocates to the team. The platform was used to spot and solve data issues within the EMR, remap the data, and educate clinicians on precisely where data should be entered. This improved the accuracy of the measurements and put Huntsville in a better position to take on value-based contracts. The Watson Health platform was also used to generate reports identifying care gaps for patients, which led to more conversations about closing those gaps. The platform was used to create printed summaries of patient information for office visits, showing previous vital signs and test results, and identifying care gaps. It also helped identify and solve documentation issues on the part of the Huntsville team, which helped the percentage of physicians meeting internal goals on the quality scorecards to increase significantly.
Operational Impact
Quantitative Benefit
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