NTT DATA’s Nucleus for Healthcare’s psychographics drive to personalized care

Rain, rain, everywhere but not a drop to drink. That is the story in healthcare, a treasure trove of fragmented data that is minimally converted into information for the benefit of health consumers. However, it appears NTT DATA may be headed to bridging the data archipelago to help improve consumer and provider experience; a core attribute of the Triple Aim (cost of care, health outcomes and experience).

True 360-degree view of the health consumer could turn engagement on its head

Administrative data (enrollment, claims, etc.) and clinical data (EHR, medication, etc.) are typical transactional elements health plans and providers maintain. Adding SDoH or social determinants of health (education, physical environment, etc.) is not very hard given membership carries some of it and can be further augmented through a variety of public sources. The last group to consider is Psychographic (attitudes, beliefs, etc.) which rounds out all the data required to form a true 360-degree view (see Exhibit 1) of a health consumer.

Exhibit 1: Data attributes that can form a 360-degree view of the health consumer

Source: HFS Research, 2021, data attributes are sample and not exhaustive

NTT DATA Nucleus for Healthcare is a platform powered by emerging tech (AI, Automation, Blockchain, Analytics, etc.) with a broad set of service capabilities including Patient Engagement, Patient Access, Clinical Engagement, Population Health, and Revenue Cycle Management (RCM).

An underlying capability that could be a health consumer engagement game-changer is the platform’s ability to incorporate psychographic attributes. Imagine the boost psychographic data can give personalized care and medicine with the power of its emotional intelligence that can enhance the delivery and consumption efficacy.

When psychographic data elements are combined with administrative, clinical, and social determinants of health (SDoH) data, we can connect with consumers at both a cerebral and an emotional level. This connectivity paradigm could fundamentally change how engagement can be established in support of health and the delivery of healthcare.

Combating technology-induced alert fatigue with technology

Doctors and nurses are an intrinsically tired group given their hours and the stress of their responsibility. Technologies’ insistence on keeping them constantly updated through their wearables has exacerbated the situation. A Journal of Medical Internet Research found that 80% to 99% of alarms are false or clinically insignificant and do not represent a real danger for patients. Alert fatigue can cause anxiety, sleep deprivation, clinician burnout, and impact patient safety.

Nucleus for Healthcare attempts to address it with their “next best action” algorithm. This allows prioritizing alerts while bundling non-urgent alerts together and delivering them as a function of the next best actions. This approach while not uncommon is certainly differentiated by the quality of the algorithms driving the prioritizations.

Addressing alert fatigue amongst clinicians will aid in improving their experience in the delivery of healthcare which is critical.

The Bottom Line: Practical solutions to improving both the consumer and provider experience is critical to moving the needle in the pursuit of improving the Triple Aim

The ability to combine SDoH with psychographic information is an opportunity to craft a true 360-degree view of the health consumer to fundamentally transform engagement will influence the Triple Aim goal of enhancing the experience of care. Nucleus for Healthcare may just have a bead on it.