Healthcare organizations are struggling to get a handle on population health and find the necessary data management tools.
Chilmark's 2014 Analytics for Population Health Management Market Trends Report reveals a market that, while seeing strong growth of interest, is still very much in its infancy.
Healthcare organizations of all sizes continue to struggle with rapidly evolving models of reimbursement, while vendors have yet to effectively build-out their solution capabilities to fully meet market needs, Chilmark researchers conclude.
Migration to value-based reimbursement models that increasingly link reimbursement to clinical outcomes is a key market driver for uptake of population health technology across the healthcare sector.
To effectively compete in this environment, healthcare organizations have to leverage data (clinical, claims, demographic, and others) far more effectively to improve care delivery and manage risk, according to Chilmark.
Chilmark found more than 100 vendors claiming to address analytics for population health management, but few delivering on the promise. Researchers also found that a growing number of EHR vendors are offering data analytics for population health management, offering to work with clients to create applications.
EHR vendors, however, lag significantly behind best of breed vendors, according to Chilmark.
"Vendors can be roughly divided into two categories: best-of-breed and platform-play vendors, depending on their particular products and marketing strategies," said Chilmark analyst Cora Sharma, who authored the report, in a news release. "It is currently a best-of-breed market, with providers adapting vendor solutions to meet a particular need created by a specific payment contract."