The Charlotte, N.C.-based Carolinas HealthCare System is one of the first health systems without a provider-sponsored health plan that will integrate payer and provider data to improve the health of people across the Southeast United States, according to the Premier Healthcare Alliance.

Carolinas Healthcare System is using one of the Salt Lake City, Utah-based Verisk Health’s population management solutions in Premier’s PopulationAdvisor suite, which manages and analyzes both claims and clinical information to help providers make financial, operational, and clinical decisions. The population health management suite can help improve wellness and reduce costs associated with gaps in care, such as preventable procedures, readmissions and emergency department visits, according to Premier officials.

The Charlotte, N.C.-based Premier Healthcare Alliance is a collection of 2,900 U.S. community hospitals and 100,000 alternate sites of care. According to Keith Figlioli, senior vice president of healthcare informatics for Premier, "Carolinas HealthCare System is making impactful changes to support population health. Connecting this data, providers can incorporate predictive modeling of patient risk to better profile an entire population, not just those who they have treated."

Premier aligned with the healthcare risk management solutions, to enhance their product offering so health systems could:

• Identify and manage high-risk populations (to intervene with current high-risk, high-cost patients and identify those with high risk and potential high cost in the future)
• Discover gaps in care to improve clinical outcomes
• Profile physician and practice variation
• Maximize performance incentives and differentiate quality using HEDIS, PQRS and ACO-33 measures

“Carolinas HealthCare System is committed to using data to improve patient care by providing physicians the information they need to anticipate outcomes and intervene early with care designed to better control chronic conditions,” Michael Dulin, M.D., Ph.D., medical officer for analytics and outcomes at Carolinas HealthCare System, said in a statement. “Being able to integrate clinical and claims data provides a 360-degree view of the patient that helps physicians take specific actions, such as encouraging patients to take their prescription medications, which can improve overall health and help reduce hospital readmission rates.”