LexisNexis Risk Solutions has launched a new Socioeconomic Health Score, an analytics model that mines hundreds of socioeconomic data points, derived from public and proprietary records, to help predict the likelihood a hospital patient will be readmitted to within 30 days.
World Health Organization defines social determinant of health data as those factors related to the "conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age."
Many experts say social determinants impact health more than medical status. As the critical importance of non-clinical data such as education, employment status, food security and housing becomes better understood, LexisNexis officials say the tool can help hospitals improve their risk stratification efforts and enable them to better direct staff resources.
[Also: Social determinants of health and the $1.7 trillion opportunity to slash spending]
"Our access to and expertise on the application of non-healthcare data for improving outcomes enables us to help hospitals reduce these occurrences, minimize costs and allocate preventive resources more efficiently," said Josh Schoeller, senior vice president, LexisNexis Risk Solutions, in a statement.
Particularly, the tool is meant to help hospitals develop more effective discharge processes, gain more insights about patients' medication adherence and lifestyle choices, tailor their aftercare counseling programs and innovate new strategies to prevent medical complications or readmission.
LexisNexis' Readmission Risk Score is part of a broader suite of socioeconomic-related tools that leverage SDOH to improve overall health outcomes. Research conducted by the company suggest that the score is as good or better at predicting risk than other readmission scoring models that use only clinical data.
Under the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services lower Medicare reimbursements by as much as 3 percent for hospitals that have a higher-than-expected number of 30-day readmissions within for conditions including chronic lung disease, heart failure, joint replacements and pneumonia.
The LexisNexis risk score can be loaded into existing clinical systems, supplementing medical data with SDOH information to help hospitals spot those patients who are most at risk.
The company will be showcasing the new tool at LexisNexis Booth 3438.
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Twitter: @MikeMiliardHITN
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