Know Thy Patient
Through Know Thy Patient, grouping
patients in a new way to enable more
holistic approaches to care
Social networks have demonstrated that individuals who have a lot in common beyond medical conditions are exponentially more likely to create stronger bonds and sustained engagement with each other. Developed in collaboration with Parkland, Know Thy Patient (KTP) is a novel approach and method for patient segmentation and clustering.
Rather than grouping patients by disease states, integrating and analyzing metrics associated with their complex barriers to health care access, such as social vulnerabilities, transportation barriers, and lack of insurance coverage, along with clinical data from the EMR, can provide―through multiple cohort comparison and hypothesis testing―data-driven insights to inform new clinical interventions that treat the whole person by making care more personalized and more accessible. Patient engagement can also improve (e.g., new “Quick Clinics” in targeted locations or medically supervised virtual support groups ― potentially less costly and catered for each cluster’s needs and access patterns). KTP has already provided important insights for improving telehealth/digital health resources as we learned that transit time to the nearest physical clinical location is a major driver of telehealth adoption while age, social needs, and clinical complexity are not barriers to digital adoption (i.e., complex, older patients with social needs engage equally, or more, in telehealth services).
As another example, KTP has also provided data insights on disparities in mammography screenings for Dallas County residents. As well as improving the efficacy of scheduling the screenings, these insights are informing new breast cancer strategic initiatives.