Horizon’s J.P. Wieske was interviewed by Route Fifty about states increasingly turning to data to help make health care spending decisions.
With more granular data on statewide health spending, policymakers can better identify cost trends, such as concentrated costs at a particular hospital or health care provider, said JP Wieske, vice president of state affairs at Horizon Government Affairs, a health care policy consulting firm.
If health care data revealed that there is a single care provider with a high concentration of opiate prescriptions, for instance, that could indicate to policymakers that there is a lack of adequate providers, he explained. Lawmakers could then implement strategies to increase competition and affordable provider options for consumers.
As more states increase their data collection and analysis efforts, artificial intelligence and other innovative tech will play a critical role in increasing the efficiency of how data is managed and leveraged by policymakers, Wieske said. States are already experimenting with how AI and tech could help governments’ bottom lines while also improving service delivery.
AI can help deliver actionable insights that can help officials narrow down specific cost drivers or trends in their state populations’ health outcomes so they can better tailor their health spending and budget plans, he explained. With more “personalized care” available to residents, states could cut unnecessary spending while also reducing the potential price of more severe health claims in the long term, he added.
States have long understood the value of big data to inform decision-making, Wieske said, but now the next hurdle for policymakers is to incorporate how they will safely and responsibly integrate that information with more advanced technology to meet their goals of reducing health care spending.