Real-Time Data Will Help Promote Population Health Equity and Enable Delivery of Higher Quality Health Care to More than One Million MA Residents
PatientPing, a comprehensive care collaboration platform, announced that it partnered with the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers to provide real-time notifications to the state’s 52 community health centers when patients experience care events—whether they are at a hospital, emergency department, skilled nursing facility, or other post-acute facilities. As a result of the partnership, community healthcare providers will now be able to use real-time admission, discharge, and transfer (ADT) data to monitor patient events, allowing for more seamless care coordination, and improved patient outcomes regardless of a patient’s insurance coverage. This is particularly impactful in delivering higher quality health care to the underserved and vulnerable patient populations often serviced by community health centers.
The Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers (the League) is a 501 (c)(3) membership organization supporting and representing the state’s 52 community health centers, which offer primary and preventive care to more than one million residents. Its mission is to promote population health equity by supporting community health center members in achieving the goals of accessible, quality, comprehensive, and community responsive health care.
“Prior to PatientPing, we did not have a centralized system to alert us about when and where patients were receiving care across the state,” said Diana Erani, COO and senior vice president at the League. “PatientPing is a piece of the puzzle that we were sorely missing, and I’m excited for its impact in helping our community health centers provide improved patient-centered care.”
Community health centers provide vital services to underserved and vulnerable populations. Before implementing the PatientPing solution, a Massachusetts community health center would often not find out about a care event until an insurance claim was processed up to 90 days later. Additionally, approximately 17% of the League’s patient population is uninsured, further complicating access to timely data needed at the point of care. With PatientPing’s event notifications, every community health center member in the state of Massachusetts can now receive real-time information regardless of where patients were seen or if they have insurance, thus enabling providers to have access to the most up-to-date data to help determine appropriate care interventions.
PatientPing’s real-time data will also be integrated into the League’s population health software, Azara DRVS. Azara DRVS is a centralized data reporting and analytics solution, which facilitates care transformation, drives quality improvement, aids in cost reduction, and simplifies mandated reporting. Social determinants of health such as food insecurity, homelessness, and more are incorporated into the League’s database. PatientPing will add an additional layer of information to help target patients who may require more immediate assistance, by flagging ED high utilizers or patients at readmission risk within the platform, as well as notifying in real time when a patient presents at an ED.
“Care transitions are fragile moments in our lives, particularly among underserved populations. We are proud to partner with the League to help fulfill their mission of promoting population health equity for all by improving its care coordination capabilities across the entire care continuum. As a fellow Massachusetts-based organization and native myself, it is particularly rewarding to connect the League with our diverse network of hospitals, accountable care organizations, skilled nursing facilities, home health agencies, hospices, and community behavioral health organizations here in our home state,” said Jay Desai, CEO & co-founder of PatientPing. “In addition, Massachusetts authorities recently fully certified PatientPing as an Event Notification Service (ENS) vendor under the Mass HIway initiative, and we are excited to bring the League onto our network to improve patient outcomes for the populations they serve.”