Social risk analytics hold immense potential in achieving business goals, reducing costs and improving the lives of consumers, patients and members. As organizations recognize socioeconomic data’s value, they can capitalize on its full potential with the right mechanism and collaboration.
Our recent virtual event hosted by The RISE Association, Full-Cycle Social Risk Analytics: Driving Business Impact Through Scalable, Sustainable Social Interventions, featured expert insights from Tammie Jackson, vice president of go-to-market strategy, TransUnion Healthcare; Ashley Perry, chief solutions officer, Socially Determined; and Keith Maccannon, director of marketing, outreach & community relations, AmeriHealth Caritas District of Columbia. They discussed how data can fuel the augmentation of socioeconomic strategies to improve member outcomes.
Embracing the power of data
In order for care to be truly patient-centric within a value-based care model, member engagement is critical. Clinical data helps you understand a person’s health; however, it doesn’t provide information on other factors impacting their lives, such as income level, housing, food security, and more. In instances where someone hasn’t visited a physician, a baseline of clinical data may not even exist. As such, it’s necessary to engage members at an individual and community level. Having access to high-quality, real-world data helps model risk scores and identify intervention opportunities.
Powering up risk models
This vast repository of socioeconomic data, when combined with a social risk analytics platform, creates a holistic picture of the member journey and helps drive actionable interventions. In her remarks, Ashley of Socially Determined outlined the four steps needed to develop successful, actionable interventions:
- Identify and quantify risk factors like food insecurity and housing instability
- Quantify opportunities by leveraging a platform, such as SocialScape, to visualize elevated risks as actionable items
- Prioritize actionable items into a roadmap interspersed with quick-win opportunities
- Evaluate the impact by showing the ROI brought on by the intervention to all involved partners
Reimagining member programs
AmeriHealth Caritas DC partnered with Volunteers of America-Chesapeake, Pathways to Housing D.C, Quantified Ventures, and Unity Healthcare to create a medical respite facility for members experiencing homelessness. The ‘Hope Has a Home’ program was envisioned to create a space for people to recuperate after being discharged from a hospital — and in need of short-term medical care in a safe and supportive environment. Even though the immediate goals of this program are to alleviate homelessness and reduce care costs, the long-term hope is members will be better equipped to transition to permanent housing.
A new definition of success
When member care is aimed at proactively reducing health risks, it can also have a profound financial impact. The following metrics can be used to gauge the effectiveness of social risk analytics:
- Reductions in readmissions
- Reductions in the total cost of care
- Increase in patient recruitment and retention
- Reductions in EMS services/911 calls
Conclusion
Health stakeholders want efficient, effective, and equitable health care, and social risk analytics are key to making that a reality. However, this reality is best achieved when cross-sector partnerships and robust data can support it. Stakeholders need to envision success beyond pilot programs — and identify the impact on large populations and communities — for these programs to be scalable and financially viable.
It’s important to have robust, quality data, and equally important to have access to the intellectual property and technology to tie it all together. TransUnion aggregates public records, credit, self-reported consumer data, bank header information, and more than 10,000 proprietary and unique data sources to deliver the most robust socioeconomic datasets needed to understand SDOH risk factors.
Learn more about how accurate data can fuel better SDOH strategies and health outcomes.
About TransUnion Healthcare
TransUnion Healthcare helps patients, providers and payers navigate payment complexities. We help providers engage patients early, ensure earned revenue gets paid, and optimize payment strategies. We also provide accurate and comprehensive financial and social determinants of health data, analytical expertise, and actionable insights to support patient and health plan member engagement.
About the author
As Senior Vice President & Chief Strategy Officer, Jim Bohnsack is responsible for driving growth through sales, partnerships, new solution development and acquisitions for TransUnion Healthcare. Jim has spent his entire 20-year career focused on various aspects of the healthcare industry. His experience ranges from strategy to process, services to technology and health systems to corporations.
Prior to returning to TransUnion Healthcare, Jim served as the President and Chief Financial Officer for Strivant Health, a private-equity backed physician revenue cycle management company based in Dallas, Texas, and as Senior Vice President of Provider Growth for CIOX Health, a New Mountain Capital portfolio company. Throughout his career in the healthcare industry, Jim has held various leadership positions at Conifer Health Solutions, TransUnion Healthcare, Deloitte and Ernst & Young.
Jim holds a bachelor‘s degree in business administration and a master’s degree in healthcare administration from Trinity University in San Antonio, TX.