How the Changing Technology Landscape in Health Care Can Improve Patient Care

James Adams, chief information officer of AllianceRx Walgreens Prime, and Sean Creehan, president of pharmacy business and GM of Creehan at Inovalon, recently discussed the importance of cloud-based technology use within the health care sector. They explained how this technology can bring value to payers, as well as improve patient outcomes. This information was presented during a session at the Asembia 2019 Specialty Pharmacy Summit. 

Mr Adams kicked off the session explaining why transformation with specialty pharmacy and overall patient care is needed. He also explained how the recent partnership between Walgreens and Inovalon aims to improve the future of care. 

“The current models we have for care are in many ways fundamentally broken. They are siloed, they are fragmented, they are obtuse. They are not focused on things that put the patient at the center, and for that reason, we feel that we must transform how we work together,” said Mr Adams. 

He further explained, “We want to imagine a future where not only can we consume this information for the betterment of the patient and to help them in their journey, but we’re able to collect information on a monthly basis as we engage with them and we’re able to contribute that back into the system and recirculate it back to the doctors and recirculate back into the plans so they can regulate better decisions on how to establish treatments.” 

“This future is going to be upon us,” Mr Adams continued. “For the first time we have data aggregated and usable in a way and in a place that we can start to block it.” 

Mr Creehan added to the conversation and said that the “root of any solution is the data.” He explained that technology in itself is exciting and allows health care providers to deliver the best value and best treatment for patients. Technology and data leverage allow health care providers to place patients on the most appropriate care, according to the presenters. 

Through the use of technology and data leverage, patients often received an optimized treatment plan. This means that the data on the patient explains the past history of the patient and it allows health care providers to understand the individual needs of each patient. 

Mr Adams and Mr Creehan emphasized the importance of collaboration, saying that it allows health care providers to effectively achieve the goals of patients. 

“With this, we will be able to provide value, first of all, to payers. We have a reach to the patients that absolutely nobody else does. We on a monthly basis are engaged with these patients and have the ability to not only conduct business as we would see fit, but to accept interventions that the payer would have.” 

At the core of the session, the speakers explained that data allows stakeholders to have input in patient care and patient outcomes. Mr Adams and Mr Creehan noted that analytics allow for reconfiguration of each patients’ journey and their individual outcomes. Further, data allows for adjustments throughout the patient journey to see how the journey will end, which the ultimate end goal is treatment success. 

Mr Adams and Mr Creehan stressed that specialty pharmacy care should aim to go beyond verticals and focus on patient outcomes and overall success through use of these different technologies and data leverage opportunities. They both explained that data allows specialty pharmacy to drive value, which is part of the care continuum, and reach patients in ways both payers and providers do not. 

Mr Creehan ended the session and said, “My encouragement is be smart about where you position yourselves and who you partner with.” —Julie Gould