DPC: Building and Accelerating Analytics Infrastructure

By Vineeth Yeddula, CLSSMBB, PMP, CMQ, OE and Michael Hein, MD, MS, MHCM, FACP

Background

Healthcare in the US is undergoing major transformation. These changes are driven from multiple fronts, including employers, customers, payers, regulations, and policy changes. It is a dynamic environment that has created uncertainty and a great deal of opportunity.

One response to these changes has been a substantial increase in the administrative burden upon primary care practices. These changes have added financial pressures as providers encounter flat or decreasing reimbursement under the traditional fee-for-service environment.

The independent primary care practice market has responded to these changes in two main ways: employment, usually by hospital-based systems, or movement towards a subscription-based practice model which disintermediates the payors. The later has been called: Direct Primary Care (DPC).

Analytic Needs of DPC

While some DPC practices are formed to escape the required reporting by payors of cost, quality and experience metrics, a time and labor-intensive burden for independent practices, other DPC practices have recognized that they now are in direct competition with traditional practice. To compete in their markets for members, DPC needs to be able to create a compelling story shared with employers and potential members. The story needs to show why DPC is a superior option and that story is written with data. Unfortunately, many DPC practices lack basic data acquisition, aggregation, analysis, and reporting capabilities.

To maintain a competitive edge, DPC not only needs better access to data, they must also infuse their practices with a culture of continuous performance improvement. An activity that can only occur with access to reasonably accurate, timely, actionable data that has been converted so it creates knowledge in the hands of clinicians so compelling that change in care processes becomes an imperative. The combination of actionable data and performance improvement science deployed in a DPC practice will empower DPC practices to continuously demonstrate their superior value proposition in the market. 

Strada Healthcare’s Partnership with KPI Ninja

Strada is the largest DPC company in Nebraska. Early in its development, Strada recognized the need to build an analytics infrastructure so that they could demonstrate lower cost, higher quality, better patient experience, and lower utilization of healthcare services compared to the traditional model.

To accelerate their capability Strada engaged KPI Ninja, a leader in healthcare analytics and performance improvement.

KPI Ninja integrates several disparate data sources into an Enterprise Data Lake, which is no easy task since the data is often dated, retrospective, and of questionable validity. KPI Ninja uses various means, including Big Data platforms and machine learning to make sense of the mess, and then delivers a cohesive picture (reporting), painted by data (advanced analytics), to its clients.

Through these keen insights coming from several disparate data sources, Strada is planning to utilize this information and approach employers to make a compelling story around the care it is providing to its patients – Personal, Affordable, Accessible Healthcare.

About KPI Ninja

KPI Ninja is a healthcare technology and consulting company. Our mission is to accelerate the Quality, Safety, and Performance Improvement culture in preparation for a value based world. The KPI Ninja team are healthcare leaders who have deep experience in successfully deploying analytics and performance improvement programs within multiple organizations and have helped create the kind of culture necessary to be an organization known for their continuous improvements in quality, cost, safety and experience.

About Authors

Michael Hein, MD, MS, MHCM, FACP: Co-founder, Co-owner. More than 20 years of healthcare and healthcare leadership experience, inclusive of leading large-scale strategic initiatives, performance improvement management, and practice transformation. Provides strategic and clinical direction and oversight.

Vineeth Yeddula, CLSSMBB, PMP, CMQ OE: Co-founder, Co-owner. An entrepreneur and engineer by training with significant health care data analytics and performance improvement experience in multiple healthcare settings. Provides strategic and tactical direction, oversees all data and improvement strategic and tactical deployment.