Here is a list of questions health plan representatives should ask any health care analytics and technology vendor you are currently working with or are considering hiring.
If you represent a health plan seeking a partnership with a health care analytics and technology vendor, you may have some critical questions. Securing the answers to these questions will help determine whether a prospective or current vendor is the right fit for your organization. It may, at times, seem overwhelming to select a new vendor—or to determine if your current vendor is fulfilling your needs. That’s why we’ve compiled this list of eight questions you should ask any health care analytics and technology vendor you are currently working with or are considering hiring.
Do you offer a supportive relationship rather than a transaction?
Having the same goals as your vendor/partner is a key component to success for your organization. Working together, you’re both moving in the same direction, as opposed to working with a vendor who simply provides transactions. Unfortunately, the vendors who are transaction-oriented may have financial interests that are not aligned with yours. For example, you may come across some vendors who, in addition to providing data and risk adjustment analytics, also provide intervention services. In these cases, the analytics these vendors supply can become rationalizations for the often expensive, and sometimes unnecessary, interventions they recommend.
Do you offer full customer support across all products?
For a health care analytics and technology company to be successful, it must take the needs of its customers seriously. The analytics we provide often require a depth of subject matter expertise to understand. Some in the health care analytics and technology marketplace charge adjustable rates for their solutions and often take an a la carte approach to their support. It is not uncommon to see variable pricing for implementation, training, data services to name a few.
Do you prioritize accuracy and transparency in the analytics you provide?
Many health care analytics and technology vendors will tell you they prioritize accuracy, but some may have a more difficult time proving they prioritize transparency. It is important that these two key elements to success work together to effectively manage health plan risk adjustment and quality programs. For example, some in the marketplace will provide a list of gap closure opportunities to target. While you may receive accurate output data at the dashboard level, you are not receiving any granular, member-level details, confidence values, financial value of gaps, or the value of the gaps combined, all of which are critical in making closure decisions.
What data do you share with clients to help them make decisions?
The answer to this question will often tell you how great a priority transparency is to the vendor you’re speaking with. The deeper the level of data provided, the greater the importance transparency is to that vendor.
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