The transformation of healthcare is critical for improving population health.  As we continue the shift to value-based care, real-time evidence will continue to drive real-time solutions with significant impact for underserved populations.

A recent article by Dr. Jeff Bloss, Senior Vice President, Astellas Medical Affairs, Tapping Real-World Evidence to Achieve Better Value in Healthcare,  notes that real-time data is the key to real-time value in healthcare.   This can have significant implications for populations with complex healthcare needs, who often require specialized care and have  challenges accessing quality care. We need to ensure evidence-based decision-making reflects real-patient experience across all populations.

Healthcare is personal and individualized. Whether people access healthcare for prevention, diagnosis, treatment or research, they expect it to meet their specific needs.  By definition, healthcare is designed to address the care of each person’s health. For populations with unique or complex needs due to social economic circumstances and/or chronic disease, using real-world data can greatly improve the healthcare experience at all levels…physician, payer and patient.  It can be difficult, though, to capture this experience data if a population has limited access to quality care due to their status and ability to access care.

Populations composed of racial/ethnic minorities, ability challenged persons, and people with low socioeconomic status typically have worse health than their counterparts. How providers and payers collect, track and utilize such data is impacted by their ability to share data due to imposing regulatory processes  to prevent and manage chronic disease and disability. Although numerous models of implementation processes are available, they are broad in scope, often with vague guidelines and few address the special issues in reaching vulnerable populations.

Blass rightly acknowledges that we are seeing clarification of regulations with the 21st Century Cures legislation to promote greater sharing of real-time data among providers and payers.

The development of new drugs and treatment modalities is of particular concern for populations with access barriers. They stand to benefit the greatest from new drug therapies. At the same time, they stand to lose if data don’t accurately reflect the real-time experience of disparate populations. Again, it’s the ability of these populations to be included in the real-world data collection and analysis that will determine real transformation in population health.

Data-driven healthcare can dramatically improve healthcare for everyone. We need to ensure data reflect the real-time experience of all populations. While this is a challenge for physicians, researchers, clinicians and patients alike, the efforts of health systems, pharmaceutical firms and insurance companies indicate cautious progress.  We need to be diligent in developing accurate data-driven, real-world evidence that produces high-value, quality care for all populations.