Frequently Asked Questions about PopulationManager®

How long will it take to install PopulationManager?

It takes our implementation team 6-8 weeks to get your data flowing. Often, the biggest challenge we face is scheduling the kick-off meeting with your clinical leaders and IT staff.

How much IT Department involvement?

Not too bad. We get that data resources are pretty scarce. The word “sustainable” is one we use often to describe our solution. If your IT staff is trying to hire data analysts to meet your reporting needs, it’s probably a good time to give us a call. Your IT leaders will like what they hear.

You talk about harvesting our data. How do you actually do that?

Using our Fresh Data™ process, we extract data from your source databases, analyze and transform it to create the desired populations and measures, and load it into the Fresh Data repository. No real-time connections are maintained between PopulationManager and your source systems.

How often are the measures in PopulationManager updated?

We refresh your data on the cycle that matches your quality improvement efforts: annual, semi-annual, quarterly, monthly, weekly, or nightly.

What hardware or software do I need to operate PopulationManager?

Not much. PopulationManager is a web-based solution (a/k/a Software as a Service) that runs in any web browser (e.g., Chrome or Firefox, even Internet Explorer).

Is PopulationManager an EHR/EMR?

No. PopulationManager is a measurement tool that is complementary to any/all EHRs, EMRs, Practice Management Platforms, or all that paper in your office. If you already have an EHR, the data visualization and analytic capabilities of PopulationManager will be a very rich enhancement to your existing platform.

Don't EHR's or EMR's offer the same benefits as PopulationManager

We are big proponents of EHR/EMR technology and believe that there are tremendous benefits to be had from (significant) investments in Health IT. However, EHR’s/EMR’s do not support population health improvement—that is why we built PopulationManager.

What about data security?

Don’t take this the wrong way, but we’re big fans of HIPAA. If you want us to host your data, we work with an industry-leading managed host provider to guard your data from all potential threats. All of our customers' data is hosted at a physically secure, SAS 70 certified data center. If your IT folks are pretty adamant about your data staying behind your firewall, your data can reside on your servers.

Does PopulationManager keep our data safe?

FHG employs physical, administrative and technical safeguards to secure the non-public health care information supplied to us by you and prevent unauthorized access to this information. We exchange information with you in accordance with written business associate agreements that address the parties’ obligations with respect to security, authorized use and disclosure, and tracking responsibilities. Read more here.

How much training is required to use PopulationManager?

We adhere to a very simple belief: good software does not require a lot of user training. Once you see our interface, we think you’ll agree—you already know how to use it.

Why did FHG develop PopulationManager?

Truly, Forward Health Group aims to move health care forward. With an altruistic streak a mile wide, FHG's products are designed to improve the lives of providers and patients through graphically elegant, visual explanations of data. Often, these data were previously frozen in legacy platforms, disparate electronic medical records, and ever-expanding data warehouses. FHG founders have deep roots in health care. This means that the company's mission, to drive improvement in health care quality/cost/patient outcomes, is not merely a slogan, it's personal.

Clinicians spend huge amounts of time putting data into clinical systems without getting any information back that could help them improve the care of the populations they manage. Health care is completely focused on the single patient encounter. As a result, members of the care team spend little proactive time with their data. We want to help all health care stakeholders by giving them a view of patient care in an intuitive interface that can be used for quality improvement.

What is the bottom-line value of PopulationManager to hospitals, health systems, physicians, payors and other vested health care stakeholders?

PopulationManager allows users to monitor the outcomes for all patients, not just one patient at a time. Our interface is clinically intuitive; our platform is very easy to use (you already know how to use it). There is no need for a report writer, someone versed in SQL, or a technically savvy analyst. PopulationManager is used by the same people that deliver patient care, leveraging its power to identify cohorts of patients that have lapsed in care, and proactively take action to change the trajectory of outcomes. This powerful view offers stakeholders a springboard for quality improvement initiatives in an effort to improve how health care is delivered, inform how health care should be paid for, and identify the areas to fix in the health care system.

What about Meaningful Use?

PopulationManager 3.0 is 2011/2012 compliant and has been certified by an ONC-ATCB in accordance with the applicable certification criteria adopted by the Secretary of Health and Human Services. This certification does not represent an endorsement by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services or guarantee the receipt of incentive payments. Read more here.