Population Health Management

Results of HIMSS Analytics/Philips Survey Focus on Pop Health, Cloud Computing

Feb. 19, 2017

A survey of healthcare IT leaders conducted by HIMSS Analytics on behalf of Philips revealed some of the major challenges in the execution of population health strategies, and broad trends around cloud adoption

Mark Hagland

Shortly in advance of the opening of the HIMSS Annual Conference, to be held in Orlando, Florida, beginning on Sunday, Feb. 19, HIMSS Analytics, a division of the Chicago-based Healthcare Information & Management Systems Society, and the Amsterdam, Netherlands-based Royal Philips, announced highlights of a survey conducted by HIMSS Analytics on behalf of Philips.

As noted in a press release published on Feb. 15, “The survey results reveal the majority of health systems are focusing on implementing health information technologies that are both cost-effective and operationally effective in an effort to expand their population health initiatives. As the industry moves toward value-based care, hospitals and integrated delivery networks (IDNs) are seeking tools that integrate seamlessly into existing electronic medical records (EMRs) to enhance patient-centered care in their hospitals, homes and communities, while also better managing entire populations.”

The press release included a statement on the survey results, from Carla Kriwet, chief business leader in the Connected Care and Health Information division at Philips. "The shift to value-based care and population health management is critical to improving patient outcomes, and integrated solutions can connect care across the health continuum to provide powerful actionable insights to enable this transformation," Kriwet said. "These survey results demonstrate the desire for fully integrated, cost-effective and operationally effective solutions, which our customers have proven can add tremendous value and improve outcomes at every point of care."

Among the key survey findings highlighted in the Feb. 15 press release:

While care coordination remains a challenge overall in population health management efforts (19.2 percent), financial investment (20.8 percent) and patient engagement and adherence (20.0 percent) are considered the biggest population health challenges in 2017.

Cloud-based technology is currently being used primarily for health information exchange (48.3 percent), followed by clinical data storage (34.2 percent). Health organizations plan to prioritize cloud-based technology on managed application deployment (40.8 percent) and big data analytics support (40.8 percent).

Community diagnostic imaging centers (68 percent), ambulatory surgery centers (61 percent) and urgent care (60 percent) have seen the highest increases in the deployment of IT systems, compared to physician's offices in 2016.

The release of this HIMSS Analytics survey precedes by just days the public release of the HIMSS Leadership Survey, whose findings will be released on Monday, Feb. 20 at HIMSS17, which will be held at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando. Healthcare Informatics will provide reporting on the survey results following the survey’s full public release to the press.