Salt Lake City, UT -- (ReleaseWire) -- 04/01/2020 --Intermountain Healthcare recently achieved the highest level, Stage 7 validation for healthcare analytics from the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS). This pinnacle achievement recognizes the healthcare system's sophisticated technological capability to use data to improve patient health outcomes, clinical provider decision making and business operations.

Only eight organizations nationwide have earned this validation and include respected institutions such as Duke Health, Stanford Children's Hospital, University of North Carolina Health Care System, Rush University, Parkland Health and Hospital System, Seattle Children's Hospital and Children's Hospital of Colorado.

This international, eight-stage (0-7) Adoption Model for Analytics Maturity grades an organization's analytics development from initial desire (Stage 0) to delivery of mass customization of care and prescriptive analytics (Stage 7). Stage 7 organizations leverage advanced data sets, such as genomic and biometrics information, to support effective, tailored treatment decisions and manage the overall health of patient populations.

"Stage 7 validation is proof of Intermountain Healthcare's commitment to supporting quality, data-informed decisions," said Albert Marinez, Intermountain's chief analytics officer. "We're excited to continue our systemwide coordination of people, processes, and technologies at all our facilities to support our ultimate goal of helping our patients and communities live the healthiest lives possible."

"Intermountain Healthcare has developed a sound technology infrastructure to deliver timely data and advanced predictive and prescriptive analytics across clinical, operational, and financial areas of the organization," said James Gaston, senior director at HIMSS.

"Intermountain Healthcare started their analytics journey – long before most organizations –
and has been a leader in analyzing data to implement strategies to improve patient outcomes," said Gaston.

Intermountain began the journey in medical informatics in the 1950's with the work of Dr. Homer Warner at LDS Hospital, who pioneered many aspects of medical informatics and computer applications for medicine. That legacy has led to a mature analytics culture at Intermountain Healthcare in 2020.

"Over 66,000 times every working day Intermountain caregivers receive reports or access analytic dashboards that inform their daily decisions. Through hundreds of questions and multiple site visits, HIMSS was able to verify the maturity of our enterprise-wide data analytic capabilities and how those analytics help providers improve the care of patients," said Lonny Northrup, care transformation solutions architect at Intermountain Healthcare. Nine case studies or business area examples were submitted to earn the analytics validation.

CASE STUDY HIGHLIGHTS SUCCESS IN REIMAGING HOW PRIMARY CARE IS DELIVERED

One of the case studies explains how Intermountain is reimagining the delivery of primary care to a value-based care model that focuses more on managing the overall health of populations.

"In reimagined primary care, workflows are optimized though daily huddles where staff help identify, prepare and follow up on patient-centered, value-based activities using electronic huddle boards that help identify actionable data for more upstream disease prevention and treatment pathways," says William Daines, MD, medical director, clinical operations for Castell—An Intermountain Healthcare Company.

The reimagined primary care program was initiated in mid-2018 with eight providers and 5,000 patients in four clinics. By the end of 2019, it included 45 physicians and advance practice providers in 25 clinics across the region, including both urban and rural settings, caring for approximately 50,000 patients in a fully value-aligned practice model that includes payer partners.

Following the implementation, Intermountain Healthcare exceeded clinical quality metrics (in comparison to a control group) by 120 percent; reduced utilization by up to 39 percent; improved provider experience of care 20 percent, cut patient medical expenses by an average of 31 percent; and improved patient experience of care metrics by 3 percent. This full case study is featured in https://www.himssanalytics.org/resources?title=&rstype%5B0%5D=6">the online HIMSS Stage 7 Case Study library.

Intermountain Healthcare is a not-for-profit system of 24 hospitals, 215 clinics, a Medical Group with 2,500 employed physicians and advanced practice clinicians, a health insurance company called SelectHealth, and other health services in Utah, Idaho, and Nevada. Intermountain Healthcare is widely recognized as a leader in transforming healthcare by using evidence-based best practices to consistently deliver high-quality outcomes and sustainable costs.