Devices & Diagnostics

Johnson & Johnson’s device subsidiary gets into value-based analytics

Johnson & Johnson Medical Device Companies' new CareAdvantage offering program analyzes data from a health system’s operations to build an action plan that includes developing clinical pathways, workflow efficiency improvement, patient engagement and metrics linked to the care provider's goals.

 

Medical device manufacturers are adjusting their marketing tactics “in an effort to position themselves at the forefront of value-based care,” wrote Ryan Parker, in a post on his company website last month. And this week, Johnson & Johnson Medical Device Companies provided an example for others to follow with a new program which is designed to support the movement from volume- to value-based care and even includes a risk-sharing option.

“Medical device companies are quickly evolving their approach to potential customers and are also modifying their products to fit in with the value-based care system,” wrote Parker, digital marketing manager at the San Diego-area ParkerWhite marketing company.

“Manufacturers of medical devices are improving their technology to better engage and interact with patients and healthcare providers, offering a higher level of patient-physician interaction that may potentially elevate clinical performance and care value,” Parker continued.

New Brunswick, New Jersey-based Johnson & Johnson’s JJMDC unit is promising to do just that with its newest offering, CareAdvantage. The program analyzes data from a health system’s operations to build an action plan that includes developing clinical pathways, workflow efficiency improvement, patient engagement and metrics linked to the care provider’s goals.

Parker noted how device companies are retooling their marketing tactics to position themselves at the forefront of value-based care, but a JJMDC spokeswoman said it goes beyond marketing tactics.

We engage our internal team of diverse subject matter experts, including registered nurse educators, health economic experts, clinical educators and health and wellness experts to deliver additional insights, coordinated through a single point of contact,” Lisa Vaga, JJMDC North America stakeholder communication leader, wrote in an email. 

Care pathways being offered include orthopedics, cardiovascular care, surgical oncology and therapies for obesity. They involve episode-performance improvement, infection-risk management, procedure standardization and digital care navigation provided by the cloud-based program of a third-party vendor, MedTrak Systems.

Each pathway includes patient-engagement strategies, according to a JJMDC news release.

The announcement highlighted JJMDC’s Orthopaedics Pathway’s Patient Athlete program, which helps patients prepare for and recover from surgery. Another vendor, Value Stream Partners, provides administrative support for managing orthopedic payment bundles.

Stepping firmly into the risk-sharing portion of value-based payments, JJMDC is also offering a “shared performance agreement” option. This involves covering a portion of a targeted savings if the health system does not achieve promised savings for knee and hip episodic costs.

The Shreveport, Louisiana-based Willis-Knighton Health System has signed up for the program.

“We have realized value in many arenas because [JJMDC understands] our unique needs and help in implementing tailored solutions that seek to put the patient first and improve efficiencies across an entire episode of care,” Chris Mangin, Willis-Knighton director of physical medicine, said in a separate news release.

JJMDC emphasized the “data-driven approach” of CareAdvantage. This harkens back to a much-cited 2008 Health Affairs essay, in which James C. Robinson, director of the University of California’s Berkeley Center for Health Technology, stressed the importance of using data to integrate device makers into a value-based payment system.

“The most important need in the device-intensive clinical sectors is not for information on particular devices, but for performance data on the entire course of treatment and its components, including the physicians, diagnostic tests, surgical implants, hospital and ambulatory facilities, and postoperative rehabilitation,” Robinson wrote.

 

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