We here at SunCloud Health are thrilled to announce that after two years of hard and persistent work, we are very close to being in a position to release the first results of our patient reported outcome measurements!
Built in to our DNA is appreciating the immense value this data provides to us, our patients, their families and our payers- and then figuring out what to do with it.
Seeking to be a pioneer in value based delivery of behavioral healthcare we are inspired by internationally respected healthcare thought leaders such as Michael E Porter, Thomas H Lee, MD and Leemore Dafny.
We aspire to be like hospital systems such as The Cleveland Clinic and Germany’s Schon Clinic who have already proven that a focus on value over volume is not only good for patients but it is good for business.
Currently we using the data we are collecting to influence our ongoing clinical care, providing our clinical team with patient reported information on outcomes that matter to our patients.
Our outcomes are incorporated in real time into the process of care, allowing us to track progress and make clinically appropriate changes as we interact with our patients. We can see where and when patients report they are improving (or not) and compare that to clinical observations. We are able to use this data when justifying level of care recommendations both to our patients and their payers. We use the data to see where our patients feel we can improve, and where they feel we may be excelling. We can drill down in to an individual patient’s results and we can see average trend lines among all of our patients. We collect data on admit, weekly during treatment, at discharge and then post discharge.
Admittedly post discharge collection remains our biggest challenge, and this will likely always remain the case. Not yet are we able to compare ourselves to other providers in our field, but we are one of the few who hope this is coming- and for our patients sake, the sooner the better.
We look forward to sharing our process and our results in an honest, transparent and meaningful way in the very near future.
We hope this will be an inspiration to all providers as we all seek a common goal of improving quality and reducing cost.
Although the process of collecting, using and sharing data like this can be time consuming and might appear at first to be scary, in the end doing so is ultimately in the best interest of our patients- and that is really what matters most.
Read more from David Newton, SunCloud Health’s Director of Operations, on today’s issues in behavioral health, about the need for accountability, transparency and outcomes in behavioral health.
