Computer Sciences Corp. has signed on to develop an IT data warehouse for Care Focused Purchasing, a not-for-profit entity comprising more than 50 employers and seven national and regional health plans.
The data warehouse initiative is considered the first nationwide effort to develop comparative information on provider performances for quality and efficiency, according to Dave Rahill, worldwide partner for Mercer.
Three years ago, Mercer met with 30 clients to focus on how to change consumer behavior to reflect better healthcare decisions under a consumer-directed health plan.
The result was the formation of Care Focused Purchasing, or CFP.
CFP’s first major step is the development of the data warehouse, which will provide more criteria for performance and benchmarks, the right content and user-friendly information for helping consumers manage their healthcare.
The warehouse will also address the lack of common agreement on the definition of and metrics for quality.
With seven national and regional plans participating, the data warehouse will have aggregated data from multiple markets, which will help establish national standards and statistically valid data, said Carl Mankowitz, MD, partner for CSC’s global health solutions practice.
Aetna, one of the participating national health plans, believes in the importance of collaboration in sharing data and on the agreement of metrics in order to move quality and efficiency forward, said Dave Corkum, regional head for Northeast National Accounts.
The data will also help Aetna become more competitive by establishing better provider communication and developing consumer tools and high-performance networks, Corkum said.
“The challenge in trying to construct a high-performance network product is that no one health plan has enough utilization in any one geographical area,” he said.
With the aggregated data contributed by the seven payers, Aetna will be able to make sound decisions in developing its provider network with more complete utilization data.
“This data could also be the basis for pay-for-performance programs,” Mankowitz said.