Preventative care can help patients avoid illness and save billions for the healthcare industry. Yet just 5.3% of US adults receive all preventative services recommended based on their age, sex, and medical history.
These care gaps put patients at undue risk and lower providers’ quality scores – but there is an emerging field designed to close them.
This article explores how care gap analytics empower providers to meet all medical practices with confidence. By equipping them with a clear list of required tests and procedures for each patient, providers can take a comprehensive approach to preventative healthcare – and deliver better outcomes for all parties.
Care gap analytics identify and track “care gaps” – instances where healthcare treatment has not yet met established medical best practices. They compare a patient’s treatment history with official care guidelines to reveal how many required scans, tests, and other treatments have not yet been undertaken.
A simple example is diabetes; fewer than 50% of all US healthcare patients who meet the American Diabetes Association’s (ADA) criteria for screening report following through with the recommended tests. Care gap analytics would use ADA criteria to identify patients who are eligible for scans and alert providers, helping them prioritize and book a test.
This tackles the root cause of most care gaps: a lack of awareness and resources on the provider’s behalf. Many healthcare payers create detailed lists of care gaps and required tests, but these are rarely available at the point of care. As a result, providers easily overlook important preventative steps – especially given that they are routinely overworked and buried under other administrative tasks.
By providing a clear list of care gaps at the point of care, care gap analytics can:
All of which makes investing in a care gaps tools an obvious step. But how exactly do they work?
There are three basic steps to follow when using care gaps analytics:
Care gap analytics require a comprehensive overview of the patient’s demographic information and their treatment history. The latter in particularly can be difficult to access, as the information may be stored between multiple systems and tests may have been undertaken at a previous practice which has not made that data available.
Leverage the full range of patient data – from electronic health records (EHRs), insurance claims, lab results, and even wearable devices. This should include structured and unstructured data and ideally be centralized within a single system to make it easier to analyze.
Once patient data is collected, payers or providers must undertake two steps:
The result should be a complete list of care gaps.
Feed your care gap documentation into care gaps software which integrates with your EHRs. This places your care gaps information directly within the provider’s workflow; they can quickly check the list during an appointment and offer the patient urgent tests to close gaps and accelerate treatment.
Inferscience’s care gaps app simplifies and accelerates preventative care. With seamless integration and an intuitive interface, payers and providers can easily upload, view, and close care gaps within the daily workflow – before instantly updating the EHR with a single click.
Our exclusive tool allows you to:
Want to explore how it could help protect your patients and improve your quality scores?
