2 / 4
Vulnerable Populations
Vulnerable populations are defined as groups most at-risk
for experiencing negative health outcomes due to age,
race/ethnicity, income, geography or chronic medical/
behavioral conditions. Many times, they’re unable to find
the right entry points to get into the system. Sometimes,
they simply don’t have a way to visit a healthcare provider.
And, because many are uninsured or underinsured, they
often don’t seek medical help until their conditions worsen
to the point at which they end up in emergency rooms.
The good news for this population is that some managed
Medicaid plans already rely on nurse call centers to help
better manage and coordinate care of their populations.
Additionally, Dan Gebremedhin, in writing for MobiHealth
News, points out that health-tech start-ups are working
hard to tackle the issue. These companies include:
>
>
Lyra Health and Quartet Health, which are
developing employer/payer screening to pinpoint
behavioral health conditions.
>
>
AbilTo, a company that is overseeing telehealth
treatments for patients’ medical and behavioral
issues.
>
>
Valera Health, which is personalizing behavioral
health solutions for at-risk patients.
The idea with these technologies is to funnel vulnerable
patients into the healthcare system for treatment and/or
prevention before they end up in emergency rooms for
simple diagnoses such as earaches or the flu – or more
serious ailments that could have been preventable. This
could help reduce ER waiting times and possibly allow for
reconfiguration of space to make it more useful for triage
and treatment.
Healthcare Staff Productivity
Medical care represents an increasing proportion of society’s
time and resources. Improving productivity in healthcare
means improving outcomes. At this point, healthcare is
moving from addressing point-in-time issues to collaborative
and continuous health management. The idea here is that
continuous management means fewer surprises.
Other ways in which technology is and/or can be used to
help boost productivity include:
>
>
Remote monitoring, in which information is
gathered from the patient by way of a remote
device. For example, sensor technology, used in the
case of heart-attack patients, continuously collects
physiological data and real-time status reports.
It also alerts healthcare providers of impending
patient problems.
>
>
Telemedicine platforms, mentioned above, also
improves productivity by keeping patients out of
medical offices for simple ailments.
Health IT is attracting many players,
from fast-growing start-ups, to
entrants from other industries and
potential partnerships of both. They
will require certain types of real estate
for their purposes.
The Occupier Edge | 13