New Research on Virtual Care Shows How Smart Utilization Can Enhance Diabetes Care
A Data-Driven Approach to Clinical Improvement
A new phrase is making the rounds of clinical quality improvement: smart utilization.
Have you heard it yet? Have you wondered if this is a rebranding of utilization management? Or maybe an acronym, or an innovation model being tested by CMS?
What is Smart Utilization?
The phrase smart utilization actually refers to the use of technology and data to help influence positive patient outcomes.1 The premise of smart utilization is that it facilitates the delivery of personalized care, often meeting the patient where they are at, without needing to wait for the patient to arrive in the clinical office. Examples include care coordination dashboards that automate health-related social needs referrals for Medicaid members with chronic disease. Or leveraging readings from at-home blood glucose monitors to direct messages to individual Medicare Advantage patients about managing their diabetes.
Smart utilization is particularly valuable for Medicare Advantage plans, which often seek to improve their outcomes, reduce costs, and achieve high member satisfaction to maintain competitive CMS star ratings.
VSP® Vision Care, working in partnership with the teams from Everly Health and Teladoc® Health, is leveraging virtual care to manage diabetes.
Data shows these clinical partnerships are successfully helping to engage patients with diabetes in managing key aspects of their care. This work is, in turn, helping to decrease the conditions for diabetic retinopathy.
Learn more about how VSP is making smart utilization work for our health plan clients and the members they serve in our new white paper, Minding the Gaps: Innovative Partnerships to Close Gaps in Diabetes Care.
Read the report for strategies you can implement today.
Eye Care Is Health Care
Eye care is health care. This has been VSP’s mantra for years. Why? Because a WellVision Exam® from a VSP network doctor can help detect early signs of 273 chronic health and eye issues, including cataracts, diabetes, diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma, high cholesterol, hypertension, and macular degeneration.
Contact us to schedule a free consultation and learn how we can adapt these interventions for your Medicare Advantage plans.
1 Son YS, Kwon KH. "Utilization of smart devices and the evolution of customized healthcare services focusing on big data: a systematic review." Mhealth. 2023 Dec 12;10:7.