The Rundown | Week of 3.13.2017

Healthcare is a rapidly evolving industry – it’s difficult to read up on everything that matters to you. But the success of your practice can depend on how knowledgeable you are about changes in the healthcare landscape. Privia has compiled a weekly list of important articles we are reading on healthcare industry trends, clinical best practices and legislative updates for your convenience. Here are some of the important articles and blogs on health care that stood out this week:

• The Importance of Risk Stratification in Population Health Management, HIT Consultant

Interesting clip: “As value-based care becomes the primary focus of healthcare organizations, providers now need to broach population health management and to manage it with risk stratification with a delicate balance. It is now important for providers to focus on patients’ individual and distinct health signs and take decisions to take their journey forward to better and quality health.”

• Top 4 Claims Denial Management Challenges Impacting Revenue, RevCycle Intelligence

Interesting clip: “Risk stratification is the foundational step for targeting patients at various levels of risks, and further, scheduling follow-ups and keeping them aligned with their care plans.”

• With $37 million in funding, health startup Virta aims to cure type 2 diabetes by watching what you eat, Tech Crunch

Interesting clip: “Most people with the disease end up having to constantly monitor their blood sugar with the prick of a needle and diabetic pills or can “cure” it with bariatric surgery. However, type 2 diabetes (also known as adult onset diabetes) only affects those afflicted with it if their sugar levels go too high or too low. Thus, monitoring every carb you swallow is another measure in keeping the disease at bay. But, believes Virta, it could also help reverse it all together without medications or surgery — something the company hopes it has proven out by working with 6,000 patients so far and publishing over 300 scientific papers on its studies of the disease.”

• With Population Health, it’s Not All in the EHR, Diagnostic Imaging

Interesting clip: “With the dawn of value-based care, the bar is set really high, says Jessica Chen, MD, chief quality officer at ChenMed, a Miami Gardens, Fla.-based primary-care provider. Any physician is going to agree with that statement, she adds — that’s because they’re in healthcare to improve patients’ lives.”

• CDC interactive website brings health data down to the neighborhood level, HealthData Management

Interesting clip: “A new interactive web application has been launched to provide local health departments with city- and neighborhood-level health data for the 500 largest U.S. cities in order to better understand the areas over which they have jurisdiction and assist them in planning interventions that are most needed.”