Last month Noridian Healthcare Solutions joined Health Data Consortium as one of our newest members. Noridian provides comprehensive solutions to government healthcare payers in the areas of care management administration, program integrity, and outsourcing.
To Introduce Noridian to our community, we asked Jami Berger, Product Director for the Care & Delivery Management team, a few questions about why they joined and what initiatives they are currently working on to advance the health data movement:
Why is it a priority for your organization to be a member of the HDC?
Jami Berger: Noridian understands the critical value of integrating disparate data to support patients, providers, and payers to reduce health inequities, promote better health, and deliver more efficient care. HDC is championing a thoughtful approach to making health and health care data available and usable while simultaneously promoting the protection of individuals’ privacy. We want to support and advance HDC’s efforts in these areas.
What initiatives or programs related to health data at your organization may be interesting to other members of the Consortium?
JB: In addition to being a Medicare Administrative Contractor (MAC), we are the nationwide contractor for CMS on pricing, data analysis, and coding for durable medical equipment. We have a team of doctorate- and masters-level statisticians who have deep experience in health care analytics and expertise in data mining using sophisticated quantitative analysis.
What are your organization’s (or team’s) short-term (e.g. 6 months – 1 year) and long-term (e.g. 5 years) goals for health data?
JB: We are in the process of establishing two to three sites across the country where we have health, health care, social, economic, and environmental datasets and are using that information to drive community-based interventions to improve health outcomes. Examples of interventions include geographically focused programs to reduce passive tobacco smoke exposure among low-income children, reduce cavities for low-income toddlers, and reduce suicide rates in low income adolescents.
What do you view as the biggest opportunity in health data?
JB: We believe the biggest opportunity in health data is for low-income populations. Health inequities, premature morbidity and mortality, and potentially avoidable health care costs are all higher in lower income populations. We see Medicaid programs beginning to focus on ending these inequities. Inequities in health are often caused by lack of access and care delivery, but are also due to economic, environmental, and behavioral factors. There are datasets that cross social, health, and health care domains, and an integrated view of community health offers insights into impactful interventions. One of our major initiatives is to reduce health inequities. Bringing geospatial analysis to the health care data industry will help achieve that goal.
What are the biggest challenges facing the health data movement?
JB: Many of today’s current challenges stem from a “build it and they will come” mentality. That mentality doesn’t excite data contributors since it’s not crystal clear what benefits or return they will realize by participating. We would like to see efforts focus on well-defined populations (elderly, low-income) with clear utilization and health goals defined upfront. Once that is accomplished, the array of data sources can be brought together for a common vision and mission.
Any upcoming events, programs, or job opportunities you’d like folks to know about?
JB: Our team will be attending the conferences for the National Association of State Health Policy (NASHP), the Care Continuum Alliance (CCA), and the National Association of Medicaid Directors (NAMD) and we hope to connect with HDC followers at these events. We hope to learn about their activities to help payers improve the health status of patients by measurably reducing premature mortality to improve overall health.
If you too are interested in finding out more about becoming an HDC member and the benefits to you as an organization or individual, please visit our Membership page for more details.