Ohio Children’s Hospital Strikes Data-Driven Population Health Partnership

Ohio-based Akron Children’s Hospital has launched a strategic, multi-year partnership with data and analytics technology company Health Catalyst to advance population health and improve patient outcomes.

Under the collaboration, Akron Children’s is set to implement Health Catalyst’s suite of population health solutions, including a range of data collection and analytics platforms. Health Catalyst will also provide expertise in analytics and population health outcomes improvement via a team of experts at Akron Children’s, according to the press release.

"Health Catalyst will become a fundamental component of our robust analytics platform, which will bring multiple sources of data to assist in data-driven decision making," said Harun Rashid, chief information officer for Akron Children's, in the press release. "Using Health Catalyst's advanced analytics tools, we will be in a position to improve patient experiences and outcomes, personalize value-based care, create operational efficiency, and compete more strategically in the marketplace."

The press release further states that the collaboration is expected to improve clinical, operational, and financial processes for Akron Children's and the hospital's ACO, Akron Children's Health Collaborative (ACHC). Health Catalyst’s solutions will be implemented at two hospitals in the Akron Children’s network, which include over 1,300 pediatric care providers and 287,000 patients.

"We are honored to partner with such an incredible, forward-thinking pediatric health system as Akron Children's and grateful for the opportunity to help further their mission," said Jason Jones, chief analytics and data science officer, general manager, for the Data and Analytics Platform at Health Catalyst, in the press release. "We are excited to provide the data and analytic platform and applications to power Akron Children's Hospital's clinical, operational, and financial improvements. We aspire to support their compassionate approach to treatment that makes the hospital system truly exceptional."

Other children’s hospitals are also turning to data analytics to improve pediatric population health, like the approach many health systems have taken for their adult patients.

In January 2020, Texas Children’s Hospital and Children’s National Health System partnered with  Configo Health, Inc to integrate their data to accurately establish standardized pediatric risk scores, which can help health systems allocate financial and clinical resources while improving patient outcomes.

Without effective analytics and data integration, pediatric data can be disjointed and siloed, resulting in a lack of risk-adjusted, centralized datasets. This, in turn, makes understanding patient risk for hospitalization or recovery, along with internal and external performance comparisons, almost impossible.

As a result of risk scoring efforts, Children’s National said they were able to significantly reduce unnecessary readmission and hospital-acquired infection rates, but further efforts are needed to eliminate further patient harm in the future.