HealthLoop, Wellpepper, and Livongo Collaborate to Advance Digital Health

Three companies engaged with CMS toward inclusion of patient engagement and outcomes tracking in the MIPS Improvement Activity for provider reimbursement.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA, UNITED STATES, December 13, 2017 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Approved digital health tools will soon be eligible for Medicare reimbursement. Beginning in 2018, physicians and other healthcare providers participating in the Merit Based Incentive Program (MIPS) track of the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA), can qualify for reimbursement for using clinically endorsed digital health tools to remotely guide and monitor patients outside of the clinical encounter. The new Improvement Activity recognizes the important value that digital patient engagement tools play in driving healthcare quality and lowering costs.

The new CMS MIPS Improvement Activity, entitled “Engage Patients and Families to Guide Improvement in the System of Care,” enables healthcare providers to be reimbursed for the remote monitoring, review, and interpretation of patient generated health data (PGHD) gathered through clinically endorsed mobile patient engagement applications. This provides an incentive for physicians to use digital health tools to track patient progress and improve the quality of ongoing care outside of the hospital or clinical setting while empowering patients to take more active roles in managing their own health.

Three digital health companies, HealthLoop, Wellpepper, and Livongo – leaders in this fast-growing market – collaborated in working with CMS to raise awareness of how PGHD and digital patient engagement tools can play critical roles in improving the quality of care and outcomes for patients. Top executives from the three companies also participated in the CMS PGHD Round Table in Washington, D.C. on December 6 to further the importance and understanding of the value of PGHD in patient care.

HealthLoop, Wellpepper, and Livongo can improve the level of personalized care for patients by providing ongoing guidance and assessments outside the physician-patient encounter. Physicians and care teams can use these tools to provide and adjust care plans, assist with ongoing disease management, and support return-to-work and patient quality of life improvement. Data collected from these digital health platforms can be used to track patient outcomes in support of continuous improvement initiatives and for participation in alternative payment models.

“Patient generated health data is a valuable tool in patient care,” said Anne Weiler, co-founder and CEO of Wellpepper, a clinically-validated platform for patient engagement that provides personalized, digital patient treatment plans delivered via mobile devices, SMS, email, Web and interactive voice interfaces. “We’re pleased that CMS has recognized this, and is enabling the collection and analysis to be used in demonstrating quality patient care.”

While many consumer digital devices like smart watches and activity trackers are in use by patients, the new MIPS Improvement Activity requires that physicians and other providers use clinically endorsed patient engagement and outcomes tracking tools that provide an active feedback loop – meaning they provide timely (real or near-real time) PGHD to the care team or generate timely automated feedback to the patient, such as automated patient-facing instructions based on care plan adherence or glucometer readings. These patient engagement tools may inform the patient and the clinical team of important parameters regarding a patient’s status, adherence to care plans, comprehension and indicators of clinical concern.

“This new rule is an important step forward for physicians and patients using digital engagement tools,” said Dr. Ben Rosner, CMIO of HealthLoop, a software solution that enables care teams to engage all patients before and after clinical encounters through automated daily check-ins. “For clinicians already using a patient engagement platform, these efforts will help satisfy the Improvement Activities category and earn 10 Advancing Care Information bonus points. Eligible clinicians must simply attest to completing the activity for at least 90 days to meet 2018 reporting requirements. Financial incentives aside, engaging with patients is the right thing to do. Practices using automated patient engagement solutions see reduced readmission and complication rates, lower call center volume, better online ratings for physicians, and, most important, happier, healthier patients.”

“It's not enough to want providers to expand care beyond the four walls of the office, it’s about empowering consumers and updating all parts of the system,” said Michael Sturmer, Livongo Senior Vice President of Health Services. “The new CMS MIPS Improvement Activity further connects digital health with providers and care practices and is a significant advancement in making digital health part of the fabric of the health care experience. It is better for patients and providers, and that's better for all of us.”


About HealthLoop
HealthLoop enables care teams to engage all patients before and after admission through automated daily check-ins. By sending the right information at the right time, HealthLoop identifies those patients that need help in real-time, allowing care teams to proactively intervene before costs and complications escalate. HealthLoop scales the impact of care teams through the power of patients. www.healthloop.com

About Wellpepper 
Wellpepper is a healthcare technology company with an award-winning and clinically-validated patient engagement platform used by major health systems to improve outcomes and lower costs of care. Wellpepper treatment plans can be customized for each health system’s own protocols and best practices, and personalized for each patient. Wellpepper’s patented adaptive notification system helps drive over 70% patient engagement with treatment plans. Wellpepper was founded in 2012 to help healthcare organizations lower costs, improve outcomes and improve patient satisfaction. The company is headquartered in Seattle, Washington. 

About Livongo
Livongo has a vision of empowering all people with chronic conditions to live better and healthier lives. We are redesigning chronic condition management, starting with diabetes, by driving behavior change through the combination of consumer health technology, personalized recommendations, and real-time support at the point of impact. Powered by advanced analytics, we create personalized experiences for our members so they receive the right information, tools, and support, at the right time. Our approach is leading to better financial and clinical outcomes while creating a better experience for all people with chronic conditions and their care team of family, friends, and medical professionals. www.livongo.com

Phoebe Byers
HealthLoop
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