IBM Case Studies The Polyclinic: Improving Medicare Annual Wellness Visit Compliance with IBM Watson Health
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The Polyclinic: Improving Medicare Annual Wellness Visit Compliance with IBM Watson Health

IBM
Analytics & Modeling - Real Time Analytics
Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Data Exchange & Integration
Healthcare & Hospitals
Business Operation
Regulatory Compliance Monitoring
Remote Patient Monitoring
System Integration
Training
The Polyclinic, a multispecialty clinic with fifteen locations throughout the greater Seattle area, was facing challenges in facilitating compliance with Medicare Annual Wellness Visit requirements. Many of The Polyclinic’s providers were not well informed regarding Annual Wellness Visit eligibility, protocols, and benefits, and as a result were unable to communicate their value to patients. This led to a substantial number of eligible patients not coming in for an Annual Wellness Visit, and of those who did, the no-touch nature of the appointment caused confusion and dissatisfaction, as many were expecting more of an annual physical. Another challenge the organization faced was some patients contacted for Annual Wellness Visits were ill or physically fragile, and bringing them in for assessments was not appropriate.
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The Polyclinic is a physician-owned and operated multispecialty clinic that has fifteen locations throughout the greater Seattle area. It was the first Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) participant in the state of Washington. The Polyclinic recognized that to optimize clinical and financial performance under Medicare programs, it needed a means of facilitating compliance with Medicare Annual Wellness Visit requirements. The Polyclinic turned to its existing partner IBM Watson Health to help improve compliance in this key area.
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The Polyclinic needed intuitive tools that could help automate and enhance eligible patient selection, outreach, and data analysis to improve efficiency and participation, and close care gaps. As such, the organization sought out a solution capable of quickly and accurately identifying patients based on age and eligibility, effectively engaging patients to bring them in for Annual Wellness Visits, and efficiently leveraging Annual Wellness Visit data and clinical encounters to identify gaps in care and better coordinate service delivery. After a “Lean” analysis of its processes, The Polyclinic recognized that it could employ existing IBM Watson Health Population Health Management tools already in use, including IBM Phytel Outreach, IBM Phytel Remind, IBM Phytel Insight, and IBM Phytel Coordinate, to implement several critical improvements.
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Established a single web-based system that allows one record per patient to inform care delivery and help track progress on quality measures.
Automated the creation of eligible patient cohorts among its entire patient population.
Cross-referenced established patient cohorts with payer data to ensure eligibility accuracy.
In just six weeks of employing IBM Watson Health’s technology across a pilot group of six providers, The Polyclinic scheduled more than 400 Annual Wellness Visits.
In 2015, The Polyclinic completed 2,622 Annual Wellness Visits, and by the end of 2016, the organization is predicting that its primary care providers will complete approximately 9,000 Annual Wellness Visits, representing a 95% improvement in just one year.
The organization also realized a $1.3 million increase in associated revenue in one year from these visits.
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