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Clinically Integrated Networks (CINs)
Population health management is like a jigsaw puzzle. All the pieces have to fit just right for medical facilities to achieve – and patients receive – high quality care. An unbroken continuum of care is no ordinary task, especially when there are many working parts, including insurers, private care managers, assisted living facilities, pharmacies and reference labs, just to name a few.
A CIN Can Serve as the Key Piece That Puts It All Together
In an era of value-based care and outcome reports including MIPS and other Pay-for-Performance programs, a clinically integrated network enables all healthcare providers and ACOs to communicate with one another so there’s greater coordination, care delivery and understanding from provider to patient, group to exchange, insurer to medical office or employer-based network to provider.
Tangible Solutions establishes the technological aspects that can help you create a fully connected community so your clinical group can send and receive patient data reliably, securely and efficiently, thereby reducing the cost of care
The core characteristics of CINs
Each patient population has its own unique health needs and circumstances that impact well-being. Similarly, clinically integrated networks are wide ranging: The clinical groups in one CIN may be quite different from the next, with hundreds now up and running, not to mention growth in ACOs and the popularity of narrow networks.
At Tangible Solutions, we’re cognizant of the fact that CINs are comprised of a variety of healthcare professionals. But we also know that for them to deliver value-based care, truly effective CINs share some key characteristics:
Physician Leadership
Even though the core functions of a radiological group may differ from a lab, all the physicians who participate within a CIN must be willing participants to ensure trust, transparency and continuity. This requires leadership on the part of physicians, who must be goal-driven and laser-focused on enhancing greater coordination of care and data delivery. Tangible Solutions can make engagement – a key component of physician leadership – easier by increasing efficiency. This is made possible by the facilitation of accurate data across the healthcare ecosystem.
Accountable
Value-based care in the age of MIPS/MACRA requires clinical groups to hold themselves – and their fellow CIN participants – accountable. Once member physicians agree to participate in a clinically integrated network, they must abide by the rules and regulations laid out in the agreement. At Tangible, we specialize in information management so CIN participants can leverage the tools they need to hold themselves and their fellow CIN members accountable
Value-driven
With MIPS rules now in effect and more groups participating in the merit-based program with each passing year, the “bones” are in place for how participants can assess whether they’re actually delivering a better standard of care. Putting the meat on those bones is up to care managers. CINs and CIN members must work together to drive better health outcomes for patient populations. Whether that’s through the enforcement of compliance protocols, physician reimbursements or enhanced oversight, truly effective CINs adhere to quality measures that drive performance and enhance patient satisfaction. Tangible Solutions specializes in MIPS reporting.
With our proprietary Happe-Analytics reporting tool, groups can collect the data they need to improve workflows and maximize process improvements wherever weaknesses may exist.
Proactive
High-performing CINs are always proactive, not reactive. That goes for care design, administrative optimization or leveraging technology to reduce wait times. Tangible can serve as your partner in driving patient engagement through custom technology solutions and electronic medical record sharing. This way, care managers can review medical histories prior to patients’ arrival, which reduces wait times and reinforces forward-focused healthcare delivery.
How You’ll Benefit
Reduce costs
Duplicate procedures drain assets, waste resources and sap energy. Much of this can be prevented by better coordination, collaboration and – perhaps most importantly – communication. Through optimized IT infrastructure that Tangible Solutions can install, CINs can reduce the cost of care both for patients as well as participating healthcare providers. This is made possible by the sharing of data so physicians and care managers can connect with their colleagues.
Improve reimbursement rates
When patients are more engaged in their ongoing health and well-being, they’re more likely to have fewer illnesses and live longer. Since CINs are proven to provide better care – thus improving patient outcomes – high quality care can yield better reimbursement rates, which is the upshot of MIPS reporting. Tangible Solutions has the experience and capability to streamline data sharing so better coordination can yield more reimbursements.
Tighten community connections
No matter how diverse your CIN happens to be or where member participants are located, a CIN supports stronger community connections. Whether that’s through Integration-as-a-Service or cloud solutions, we’ll help you build a foundation customized to your unique needs and tech capabilities, as well as those of your community member colleagues (e.g. labs, rehab facilities, nursing homes, etc.).
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Here are a few of the other benefits available by joining or establishing a clinically integrated network:
- Empower personnel to address tasks that require accurate data
- Increase EMR access without compromising security
- Maintain independence
- Adapt and learn from changing payment models
- Collaborate with colleagues to streamline healthcare delivery.
- Increase growth by incentivizing process improvements
- Reduce administrative stress
Why partner with Tangible Solutions
No matter where your group falls within the healthcare continuum, you have plenty on your plate. And while CINs improve efficiency across a committed organization, the steps involved in setting one up just add to your to-do list.
We can also make it easier to coordinate with other healthcare providers who may be involved in care delivery. In doing so, you can work in partnership to avoid gaps of care and at the same time reduce unnecessary procedures, which can help reduce the cost of care and improve the patient experience.
At Tangible, we help you overcome the barriers to delivering high quality care. CINs may enhance coordination, but obstacles can get in the way of this realization. Because technology is in a constant state of advancement, it doesn’t take long before state-of-the-art EHR systems become out of date or effectively obsolete. We’re health information technology experts, so if there’s is a chink in the data sharing chain, you can bet we’ll find it and smooth it out by recommending the proper resolution. And we’ll do it while being mindful of your budget and bandwidth.
Perhaps you’re not clear about what processes need improvement or how to foster the leadership that CINs require. Because we’ve helped other CINs and ACOs get off the ground, we can offer suggestions on developing the shared goals that can empower physicians to hold themselves and fellow members accountable.