PHM, Care Coordination, And mHealth Cut Disparities

By Katie Wike, contributing writer

Using innovative technologies to uncover preventative measures can lead to a better understanding of the health disparities that exist.

“The advent of population health management, community-based care coordination, and mobile health technologies provide a promising opportunity to address longstanding and persistent health disparities,” explains an article in Health Affairs. “Separately each adds a new dimension to research and analysis, and to individual and community-level public health prevention and access to quality care. Together, providers, payers and researchers alike can acquire a richer understanding of contextual, environmental, and behavioral factors that contribute to disparate outcomes in health.”

Joseph West, an epidemiologist and statistician who is senior partner at the consultancy NextLevel Advisory Group and chief population health officer for NextLevel Health, a Medicaid managed-care entity, writes in the article that research to improve care is often narrowly focused and takes too long to bring any change.

Fierce Health IT reports that capturing data in real time is the key for better research - through remote patient monitoring and mHealth. Tablets and smartphones allow for an instant connection through which insightful data can be shared.

West writes that it’s important to understand what is affecting low-income patients’ health. For example a patient with Type 2 diabetes often doesn’t develop neuropathy or peripheral artery disease from lack of available healthcare, but rather from food insecurity, transportation needs, threatening family/home dynamics, and in many instances the absence of enabling information and support for better behavioral decision-making.

Using mobile applications to provide this information to community health workers in real time can allow for action to improve population health.

West concludes, “The advent of digital medicine and telemedicine provides an opportunity to reach the underserved in many unique ways. Moreover, lay community health workers and care coordinators can use them during care visits for screening, health education presentation, and care plan delineation.”