Data Governance, Chronic Disease Management Top Priorities in 2020

As healthcare continues its digital transformation in the coming year, the industry will prioritize data governance and chronic disease management to improve treatment and outcomes, according to CVS Health’s Health Trends Report 2020.

Advances in data and technology have changed the role of clinicians, and the industry faces more pressure to deliver quality care while managing costs. With more opportunities to extract actionable insights from healthcare data, organizations are seeking to enhance their data governance strategies to boost care delivery.

“Data in the healthcare sector continues to grow more quickly than in any other major industry. As initial obstacles of interoperability and data silos are overcome, two major objectives are coming into focus: learning to manage health data responsibly and finding applications that can make healthcare more effective and convenient for consumers,” the report said.

CVS Health noted that the major challenge will be leveraging all this data to develop useful tools patients can use to improve their health.

“No one company will invent all of the breakthrough technologies,” said Firdaus Bhathena, Chief Digital Officer at CVS Health. “Part of our role at CVS Health, given the breadth of our involvement in various areas of healthcare, will be to stitch the information from all of these sources into experiences that are truly meaningful and impactful in delivering real solutions at a population health level.”

Strong data governance practices will help organizations uncover the best ways to use patient information, the report noted. Organizations that have a solid set of principles to guide ways to build and implement uses for patient data will ensure success.

“Are we able to clearly articulate to the consumer what data is required to be able to deliver a certain level of value? What will we do with the data once that value is identified? As we think of using data, do we have a clear consumer benefit?” said Bhathena.

Once healthcare organizations can leverage healthcare data in a way that benefits consumers, outcomes will improve.

“If we can achieve that, ultimately, the value we all derive from this data will be an enormous benefit to patients in excellerating solutions that make a meaningful difference in their lives,” said Bhathena.

In addition to data governance, CVS Health expects the healthcare industry to focus on chronic disease management in 2020. Chronic kidney disease (CKD) will be a priority, as healthcare professionals try to find better ways to diagnose and treat the condition early.

About 30 million Americans have CKD, CVS Health noted, with up to three-fourths of cases caused by hypertension and diabetes. However, nearly half of people with severely reduced kidney function are still undiagnosed, leading to poorer outcomes and higher costs.

“Data used well can help healthcare leaders find and address the keenest areas of need. In the United States, for instance, one in three adults is at risk of kidney disease. Yet the vast majority of those with chronic kidney disease don’t know it themselves and don’t get care when it can be most useful,” the report said.

CVS Health has implemented strategies to enable preventive care for kidney disease. In 2018, the organization launched CVS Kidney Care, which uses predictive analytics to analyze pharmaceutical and medical claims, lab data, and demographics to determine patients at highest risk of kidney failure. The program uses a similar approach to find out which patients already have a CKD diagnosis but may be quickly progressing to kidney failure.

Once providers find these patients, clinicians use targeted interventions, including phone calls, referrals to specialists, education, and lifestyle changes to help patients boost treatment and prevention efforts.

“We are looking at innovations to each stage of disease,” said Bruce Culleton, MD, Vice President and Chief Medical Officer of CVS Kidney Care. “By utilizing assets that already exist within CVS and starting our Kidney Care business from scratch, we have the ability to be completely innovative and think outside of the box.”

The report shows that over the next year, the industry will prioritize areas of care that support better outcomes and lower costs.

“The trends at play are important not only to those wealthy enough to afford the latest advances, but also to the traditionally underserved. These forces will shape the professions in the front line of hospitals and clinics and also every organization that helps to coordinate and support consumer wellness,” the report concluded.

“It is our responsibility to learn from our unique vantage in the industry, and plan for the road ahead. Together, we can make the healthcare delivery ecosystem smarter, more efficient and better for consumers.”