Describe the strategy a healthcare organization can use to lower its cost of care. What types of IT applications could they use to help them achieve this goal?

A healthcare organization can use a variety of strategies to lower its cost of care. The first is through value-based reimbursement models, which focus on outcomes and quality instead of volume or traditional fee-for-service models. This encourages providers to be more efficient in their delivery of care, as they are incentivized based on the health outcomes that their patients achieve. Further, a healthcare organization should strive for operational efficiency by streamlining processes and reducing redundancies. Automating administrative tasks such as scheduling appointments, managing insurance claims processing, and billing can have an immediate impact on lowering costs while still ensuring accuracy.

To help them achieve this goal, there are several types of IT applications that could be used. Electronic health records (EHRs) enable faster data sharing between providers and reduce manual paperwork that is often costly when relying on paper forms alone. Clinical decision support systems (CDSSs) provide automated decision support for clinicians based upon patient history or laboratory results; this helps to increase the accuracy of treatment plans while also reducing errors and increasing efficiency overall. Healthcare organizations can leverage analytics tools to identify trends in population health management and create effective action plans for providing interventions at lower cost points than medical treatments would otherwise require. Finally, telehealth platforms give providers the ability to deliver virtual consultations remotely via secure video conferencing which reduces overhead costs associated with face-to-face visits while improving access for patients who may not be able to visit a physical location due to mobility or financial constraints.