The prescription for improving healthcare outcomes is pretty straightforward: improve quality by working with good data that’s based on patient perceptions of quality, as well as functional health outcomes. Then make that data accessible and actionable among your physicians and give them the leeway they need to reduce variation and, ultimately, improve outcomes. As simple as this may seem, it’s been complicated by an inefficient data infrastructure with non-standardized components (EHRs) and the inability to distribute analyses and visualizations where they are needed most (at the point of care). Dale Sanders explains these issues in detail and outlines solutions in this article published in the April 2015 edition of BMJ Outcomes.

1. Outcomes improvement:
What you get when you mix good
data with physician engagement

2. © 2014 Health Catalyst
www.healthcatalyst.com
Proprietary. Feel free to share but we would appreciate a Health Catalyst citation.
Improving Outcomes
It’s difficult work to improve the
science, knowledge, and
technology of healthcare, but
steady progress has been made
over the past several decades.
Unfortunately, efforts to improve
the value of healthcare for
patients and generate outcomes
improvements have lagged
because this, too, is difficult work.

3. © 2014 Health Catalyst
www.healthcatalyst.com
Proprietary. Feel free to share but we would appreciate a Health Catalyst citation.
Improving Outcomes
Dale Sanders, Health Catalyst
Senior VP of Strategy believes
these challenges can be met.
In his April 2015, BMJ
Outcomes article, “The hard
work of improving healthcare
outcomes,” Dale shared a
simple equation* used by
consumers to judge the value
of care they receive:
From Michael Porter’s 2010 New England Journal of Medicine article entitled “What Is Value in Healthcare?”*

4. © 2014 Health Catalyst
www.healthcatalyst.com
Proprietary. Feel free to share but we would appreciate a Health Catalyst citation.
Improving Outcomes
Measuring the cost of
healthcare is straightforward,
but how do you measure the
quality of healthcare?
Value of healthcare =
Quality of healthcare
Cost of healthcare

5. © 2014 Health Catalyst
www.healthcatalyst.com
Proprietary. Feel free to share but we would appreciate a Health Catalyst citation.
Improving Outcomes
If we define quality as the patient’s
perception of quality combined with
the functional health outcome of that
patient, then we must measure and
collect data on the functional
outcomes of care. This is where
healthcare is coming up short.
Functional outcomes extend well
beyond a follow-up visit or two. They
can extend months or years beyond
an initial visit, procedure, or surgery.

6. © 2014 Health Catalyst
www.healthcatalyst.com
Proprietary. Feel free to share but we would appreciate a Health Catalyst citation.
Improving Outcomes
Functional outcomes must be
defined, quantified, and measured
over time and across the care
continuum.
These measurements are needed
in order to generate credible,
actionable data to be used in an
outcomes and value improvement
assessment.

7. © 2014 Health Catalyst
www.healthcatalyst.com
Proprietary. Feel free to share but we would appreciate a Health Catalyst citation.
How to Drive Outcomes Improvement
Sanders argues further that
EHRs need to be designed
more like project management
software with patient centric
tasks generating patient
improvements.
Despite federal government
incentives of $48 billion to
implement meaningful EHRs,
they aren’t ideal for patient
specific outcomes monitoring
and data visualization.

8. © 2014 Health Catalyst
www.healthcatalyst.com
Proprietary. Feel free to share but we would appreciate a Health Catalyst citation.
How to Drive Outcomes Improvement
Two keys for overcoming this
barrier to outcomes improve-
ment are:
1. The data warehouse for
extracting, organizing, and
analyzing data
2. Distributing the resulting
analyses in real time, so
physicians and frontline
caregivers can dispense
customized care for each
patient

9. © 2014 Health Catalyst
www.healthcatalyst.com
Proprietary. Feel free to share but we would appreciate a Health Catalyst citation.
Physician Engagement Is Critical to
Improvement
A third key to improving outcomes
is to successfully engage
physicians in redesigning care.
Physicians want to improve the
health of every patient, yet they
are often expected to do this
without vital tools and information:
• Appropriate insight into the functional
outcomes their patients are achieving
• An evidence-based, data-driven plan
for optimizing outcomes
• A data-rich environment that includes
statistical predictions of outcomes
based on treatment options

10. © 2014 Health Catalyst
www.healthcatalyst.com
Proprietary. Feel free to share but we would appreciate a Health Catalyst citation.
Physician Engagement Is Critical to
Improvement
Give physicians appropriate data
tools to be better informed about
their patients, give them the
autonomy they need to feel
empowered, and they will
determine how best to reduce
variability and improve outcomes.
Click here to read the full article on the
BMJ Outcomes website, “The hard work
of improving healthcare outcomes.”

11. © 2014 Health Catalyst
www.healthcatalyst.com
Proprietary. Feel free to share but we would appreciate a Health Catalyst citation.
More about this topic
Overcoming Clinical Data Problems in Quality Improvement Projects
Kathleen Merkley, Engagement Executive
Ann Tinker, VP Customer Engagements
7 Tips for Increasing Physician Engagement
Dr. Kevin Croston, Chief Medical Officer – North Memorial Healthcare
Introducing the Accelerated Practices (AP) Program: An Innovative Way to Help Health
Systems Accelerate and Sustain Outcomes Improvement
Dr. Bryan Oshiro, Chief Medical Director – Dr. John Haughom, Senior Advisor
Sherry Martin, VP Process Improvement
The Clinical Integration Hierarchy: A Primer on the Backbone of Data-driven Quality and
Cost Improvement Dr. Ed Corbett, Medical Officer
How to Sustain Healthcare Quality Improvement in 3 Critical Steps
Cherbon VanEtten, Director of Education
Link to original article for a more in-depth discussion.
Outcomes improvement: what you get when you mix good data with
physician engagement

12. © 2014 Health Catalyst
www.healthcatalyst.com
Proprietary. Feel free to share but we would appreciate a Health Catalyst citation.
For more information:

13. © 2014 Health Catalyst
www.healthcatalyst.com
Proprietary. Feel free to share but we would appreciate a Health Catalyst citation.
Other Clinical Quality Improvement Resources
Click to read additional information at www.healthcatalyst.com
Paul Horstmeier brings 25 years of Fortune 500 and small business operations and
general management experience to Health Catalyst. He co-founded HB Ventures and
filled senior executive roles at HB Ventures portfolio companies. Within Hewlett-Packard,
Mr. Horstmeier launched and grew three different businesses, including co-founding
HP's commercial e-commerce business which later expanded to include the
management of the data systems and infrastructure for marketing operations across the
company. As Vice President of HP.com, he headed up a 700-person organization which
was awarded nearly every industry award for quality and innovation during his tenure.