Today, health data is fragmented among providers (60% of whom are independent), patients, and payers. In the US, $1.2 trillion is spent on unnecessary treatment.

The good news is that as providers and payers transition to electronic medical records (EMR), there are huge opportunities for efficiency, cost savings, and better patient outcomes. Using cloud solutions, healthcare and life sciences companies are on the cusp of a patient-centered revolution in care.

By applying Optum Analytics’ tools, providers can create hit lists of patients most likely to be admitted in the near future, according to Chief Product Officer, A.G. Breitenstein. The analysis is based on data compiled from 40 million patient records, gathered over 20 years, combined with socio-economic data from the US census. This allows healthcare providers to “pivot to the point of patient need” instead of sitting back and waiting for patients to walk in the hospital door.

The results have been impressive. In one instance, a provider was able to take 83% of readmissions out of the system. “We’re starting to solve for the misalignment of healthcare dollars,” Breitenstein said.

Laura Esserman, MD, Director of the Carol Franc Buck Breast Care Center at UCSF, articulated the data gap in healthcare and life sciences: “If you don’t know what you’re doing, you can’t get better. That’s the fundamental disconnect in healthcare.”

Salesforce provides the perfect platform for bridging that disconnect. “It turns out that the data we need at the point of care is just the same data that everybody else needs,” Dr. Esserman said.

Rushika Fernandopulle, MD, Co-Founder and CEO Iora Health, offered a road map for changing the management of chronic disease, using technology to facilitate the change to patient-centric care. Using health coaches from the community, a provider was able to realize a 40% drop in hospitalization through changes in behavior and lifestyle choices outside the doctor’s office. In one example, a set of patients went from 55% with their blood pressure under control to 90% under control.

Paul Hudson, President, of AstraZeneca US and Executive Vice President, North America, said that “prescribing a medicine is just part of the solution.” With agile, connected data, managed population health will lead to better investment decisions in healthcare and the “potential to change outcomes for patients.”

There was a feeling of excitement in the room by the end of the session. “At the end of the day, we fundamentally have to ask a different question,” said Breitenstein. "We have to stop thinking about healthcare and start envisioning a health system. We have all the puzzle pieces on the table,” she said. Now we just have to “break the stuff that doesn’t work and start to build the stuff that does.”

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