Health IT

How naviHealth is harnessing data to improve patient outcomes

Using the company's nH Predict tool, clinicians are better able to predict a patient's outcomes and generate a personalized post-acute care plan.

As data and analytics are increasingly leveraged in various aspects of the healthcare system, one company is making use of such capabilities to help clinicians make the best decisions for patients.

Based in Brentwood, Tennessee, naviHealth provides both payers and providers with post-acute care management expertise. Its nH Predict tool allows clinicians to better predict a patient’s outcomes in order to craft a personalized post-acute care plan.

The solution is based on 4 million patient records, which is data naviHealth has been collecting since the mid-1990s.

The result of the tool is a simple outcome report that is generated at the beginning of the patient’s stay in a facility or hospital. The report breaks down the patient’s basic information as well as how they’re doing in a variety of categories.

For instance, nH Predict outlines the individual’s gender, date of birth and admission date. It also includes their primary diagnostic group (such as COPD) and their usual living setting (like at home alone or in an assisted living facility). Finally, the outcome report provides a score for a few of the patient’s functions based on the data of similar patients. It gives a score on the patient’s basic mobility (such as wheelchair skills or ability to take the stairs); daily activity (like bathing and dressing); and applied cognition (including memory and communication). Additionally, the report creates a total average score for the patient based on their mobility, activity and cognition scores.

“This particular tool allows us to use real-life outcomes to set best practice expectations and to create consistent outcomes for patients who are getting sick today,” Colleen O’Rourke, naviHealth’s vice president of clinical operations and engagement, said in a phone interview.

Meagan Brasher, naviHealth’s director of product management, noted that the capability is geared towards the company’s health plan clients, ACO clients and BCPI Advanced clients.

The nH Predict tool also includes a patient-facing report that uses simple language and graphics. It allows them to easily understand their situation and how they can expect to recover.

“Generally, [patients are] feeling out of control about their own healthcare,” O’Rourke said. “To be able to sit down with the patient or their daughter and talk through what recovery could look like is very empowering.”

Photo: goir, Getty Images

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