SEATTLE – Healthcare organizations dealing with information overload in the shift to value-based healthcare might be interested in checking out Vieosoft.
The Seattle-based company, which opened for business earlier this year, has launched a platform offering best-of-breed solutions for payers and providers involved in accountable care organizations or managed Medicaid/Medicare services. The platform is designed to offer all the technical tools necessary to convert to a value-based reimbursement model.
“ACOs and related organizations must meet the highest standards for patient accountability, and at the core of that mission is the need to quickly access and evaluate individual and network data and insights,” said Peter Hoover, the company’s president and CEO. “Our technology shines in its ability to compile and analyze data across organizational boundaries, helping healthcare organizations make swift, informed decisions to mitigate risk and drive better results. And since the system is built with the claims data and PMPM payment structure that’s already standard with managed care, it’s simple to align and deploy around new reimbursement requirements.”
Hoover and Marc Lilly, the company’s chief operating officer, said healthcare entities transitioning from traditional fee-for-service to pay-for-performance models of care often don’t have the time or resources to set up the foundation for an ACO. Hence the “ACO-in-a-box” platform.
“The problem is, an initial software solution just doesn’t work for them anymore,” said Lilly. “They need network management tools.”
“What we’re focusing on is tools that help people do a better job of managing their business,” added Hoover. “When you think about it, long-range planning for a doctor nowadays is, ‘Who’s next?’”
Hoover said the Vieosoft platform offers care insurance functions, member relationship tools and provider management and quality management solutions. A pilot program is in the works for care management tools, he said, and the company is looking into the pharma/prescriptions market as well.
“We think that is you’re going to be accountable for care, you should be accountable for all pieces of care,” Lilly said.
While the push toward ACOs and patient-centered medical homes represents the foundation for healthcare reform, some have questioned the costs of launching and maintaining such a new model. While the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services estimated in its recent proposed rule that it would cost roughly $1.8 million to establish an ACO and maintain it during its first year, the American Hospital Association has argued that start-up and management costs would run between $11.6 million and $26.1 million.
“Healthcare organizations in all 50 states are eyeing a transition from FFS to accountable care models to address skyrocketing healthcare costs,” said Brian Klepper, a healthcare analysts and consultant, in a press release provided by Vieosoft. “But finding and deploying the kind of technologies required to coordinate care across organizational boundaries in P4P models has posed significant challenges.
Outsourced solutions can give managed care organizations all the benefits of accountable care, minus the complexity of traditional software- or hardware-based approaches.”