Greg Poulsen, Intermountain Healthcare’s Senior Vice-President and Chief Strategy Officer, spoke on the topic of data being used to improve clinical quality and care. The presentation was part of the Health IT Summit in Washington D.C.

Healthcare Informatics detailed Poulsen’s talk at the conference and how it relates to data driving healthcare change. Poulsen took the audience through a history lesson as he detailed Intermountain’s journey away from the fee-for-service payment model.

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The fee-for-service model has customers pay the hospitals and clinics per the services rendered. The result can lead to excessive care being administered. The healthcare system in the United States has been moving slowly away from this to evidence-based care – which lowers cost and focuses on population health.

The Affordable Care Act and Medicare and Medicaid changes have accelerated a process that Intermountain started decades earlier.

“Those in APMs [alternative payment models] will be far more rewarded than those who stay in fee-for-service. And that’s a good thing. It’s a tough thing but a good thing,” said Greg Poulsen in a quote in the article.

Poulsen also highlighted how chronic illnesses have drastically changed down through the generations. Evidence-based care, through data utilization, can be used to tackle the ever-changing landscape of illnesses and disease.

The article can be viewed at Healthcare Informatics website.