Premise Health is one of the nation’s largest direct healthcare providers. His approach emphasizes clinical expertise, easy access to care and a smooth and simple patient experience.
Premise has a network of over 800 wellness centers in 45 states and Guam. Premise’s physicians, nurse practitioners, pharmacists, physical therapists and other providers deliver care in person and virtually, providing a personalized and digitally connected experience.
Beth Ratliff is COO of Premise Health. Health Informatics News sat down with her to discuss the shift to advanced primary care and lifestyle medicine, the power of mapping and leveraging patient data, and clinical intelligence in transforming primary care , and key trends shaping the future of healthcare.
Q. You see a bright future for advanced primary care and lifestyle medicine to better address chronic disease and prevention. Please explain what these options are and why you think they have a strong future.
A. Advanced primary care is a model of health care that increases patient engagement in their own health by focusing on expanded health care access, holistic care, and population-level health outcomes, among several other components.
Over time, this helps people live healthier lives, which lowers health care costs for employers and employees. Many healthcare providers operate on a fee-for-service or volume-based model. This model rewards healthcare providers based on the number of patients they treat and the procedures they provide rather than patient health outcomes.
In contrast, advanced primary care requires realigned payment models, prompting providers to focus on patient health outcomes and quality of care rather than volume.
Lifestyle medicine is a clinical approach that promotes the use of health behavior change as the primary means of preventing, treating, and reversing many medical conditions. It’s often broken down into seven pillars of a healthy lifestyle: nutrition, movement, emotional well-being/stress, sleep, substance-free, hydration, and getting outside.
Through this method, providers can help patients learn new ways to manage conditions that may affect their lives simply by adopting healthier habits. Focusing on prevention helps patients and employers reduce costs over time by reducing emergency room visits, expensive surgeries and medications.
I’m excited about advanced primary care and lifestyle medicine because both help people be healthier. Good news about America’s healthcare system can be hard to come by, and it’s rewarding and exciting to see the impact of these approaches to care.
Q. How can mapping and leveraging patient data and clinical intelligence transform primary care?
A. Overall, the goal of integrating patient data and clinical intelligence into primary care is to focus our proactive efforts and resources on the people and populations most in need of support. When we have access to claims-based data, we can identify who in our population is at risk.
Who’s been in the hospital recently or received a scary diagnosis? Then our care teams can contact them to see what they need. Would access to a care navigator be useful? Would they like to get in touch with a registered dietitian or physiotherapist?
When we can connect the right people to the right care, we can have a huge impact on their lives. On a large scale, we are improving the health of an entire population.
Q. What are the main trends you see driving healthcare in 2023? Especially those related to healthhealthcare information technology.
A. One of the major global trends we see in health care is pent-up demand and a resulting “bubble” of care needs. Surveys indicate that employers expect increased utilization and chronic disease management needs as a direct result of delayed care, which will drive up costs in the years to come.
Many organizations are looking for ways to reduce their long-term costs in the face of this trend, while managing rising healthcare inflation.
However, employers recognize that if they pass the costs on to employees, it can do two things. First, it can reduce access or lead to delayed care, which ultimately results in poorer employee health and higher healthcare costs.
Second, it can make them less competitive in a tight labor market. Instead of cost sharing, many employers are looking for ways to consolidate benefits, drive greater utilization, and increase their return on investment.
A related trend is that health technology integration is going to be a big priority for organizations in the future. Benefits have proliferated during the pandemic, and the feedback we’re hearing from companies is that many of their employees don’t even know what service they have access to.
Use has remained low for many of these tools due to a lack of awareness and engagement. We anticipate that more companies will begin consolidating and bundling services to streamline access to care.
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Healthcare IT News is a HIMSS Media publication.
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