OBH has become a supplier on the G-Cloud 14 framework. G-Cloud is the UK Government’s digital marketplace that helps the NHS and local authorities procure cloud-based technology and digital services.

OBH offers cutting-edge population health management data products and analytics services. OBH’s Segmentation Engine, Segmentation Dataset and associated data products provide an essential, core backbone for population health management, service planning, design and evaluation, for any local NHS organisation, and their health and care partners. 

Products available include both the National Segmentation Dataset, with options to upgrade this with local GP data through this G-Cloud framework, as well as a Local Segmentation Dataset.

The National Segmentation Dataset features a 7+ year longitudinal period of data, with monthly granularity. It is refreshed regularly with the latest data. It includes 6 core segments (including the healthy/generally well population cohort), and 59 subsegments/conditions. It takes into account population dynamics such as births and deaths in the entire period.

The National Segmentation Dataset is available to ICBs, and other NHS organisations for their GP registered populations through the Federated Data Platform (FDP). It can also be ‘upgraded’ with local data, for example data from GP practices, on local infrastructure (such as an instance of FDP).

G-Cloud 14 is live from 9 November 2024.

Find us on G-Cloud 14:

• OBH® Segmentation Engine and Data Products
• OBH® Segmentation and Outcomes Analytics Support Services
• OBH® Outcomes Platform

Data analysis using the National Bridges to Health Segmentation Dataset was published in Nature Medicine this week. This was the culmination of several years of collaborative work between an impressive team including NHS England, OBH, NHS Arden & GEM CSU, Imperial College London, University of Leicester, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI). 

The key questions the study sought to answer were:

• Are people with diabetes more likely to have multiple LTCs?
• Does diabetes accelerate the onset of developing MLTCs?
• How long are people living with diabetes-related MLTCs, and do these people die earlier?

A three-state Markov model was applied to the National Segmentation Dataset to calculate age of onset for combinations of LTCs with and without diabetes as well as years of life spent with MLTCs and years of life lost.

View a summary infographic showing the analysis, results and implications

Read the full Nature Medicine paper

In June, OBH’s Chief Financial Officer Juliana Bersani moderated the ‘From the drawing board to the ward: Making value-based healthcare work’ session at the HLTH conference in Amsterdam.

OBH presented and chaired discussions around value-based healthcare, exploring themes around how we define value, the role of individual need, what the key challenges are when it comes to implementation, and the impact on patients and systems.

Along with fellow speakers Ward Bijlsma (Chief Medical Officer at Equipe Zorgbedrijven) and Izhar Laufer (Director of Innovation at Leumit Health Services), Juliana discussed some real-life examples from across Europe and the US, where value-based healthcare has made it off the drawing board and been implemented in the real world.

OBH delivered an in-depth presentation on national HEALTHSPAN® in England, and how this objective population-level measure of the amount of time individuals spend in good health is derived and how the data can be used by the NHS to drive change. Catch up on the session on the FutureNHS AnalystX site here.

• HEALTHSPAN is a measure within the National Bridges to Health Segmentation Dataset and a view in the Population Health and Person Insight (PaPI) Dashboard. It has been developed using routinely collected, linked national longitudinal health and care data for all ages and can be tracked with monthly granularity. (More on PaPI on the FutureNHS PaPI website)

• HEALTHSPAN is a measure of when people develop their first significant long term condition, and the average age at which this occurs within a population. 
• HEALTHSPAN is assessed in the context of Lifespan (the age at which people die); the ratio of HEALTHSPAN to Lifespan shows the proportion of a population’s life spent in good health.

HEALTHSPAN is a vital emerging outcome for health systems implementing population health management solutions. The ability to measure HEALTHSPAN accurately is essential for the planning, payment and delivery of healthcare services around improving the amount of time individuals spend in good health.

More information about OBH’s work on national HEALTHSPAN with NHS England can be found on OBH’s HEALTHSPAN webpage.

In March, CEO Rupert attended this year’s Digital Health Rewired conference at the NEC in Birmingham, where he joined Hassan Chaudhury, commercial director at DATA-CAN, and ZhiQian Huang, AnalystX Process Mining Community Lead and Chief Impact Officer and Co-founder of Logan Tod & Co for a panel discussion titled “AnalystX Community: Building a vibrant NHS data analytics collaborative community”. The AnalystX community was created as a true collaborative with over 75 leading organisations and gained traction during the COVID-19 pandemic. It now consists of over 15,000 data professionals coming from the private, public and third sector.

This was a great opportunity to share and discuss some exciting initiatives to bring sustainable transformation in data and analytics within the NHS.

The work of OBH and NHS England’s Population and Person Insight Team (PaPI) was shared at an AnalystX huddle in February, attended by over 300 people. 

AnalystX is a collaborative network and community for data and analytical professionals working within the NHS.

The session covered how the National Segmentation Dataset is created and used to support Population Health Management, for example how the dataset can be used by analysts and future roll-out plans via the FDP, and currently available products for ICBs such as the ‘PaPI Dashboard’. 

Watch the video recording and see slides on the FutureNHS website

A new paper that OBH has contributed to as part of the NHS England Multiple Long-Term Conditions (MLTC/Multimorbidity) Analytical Workstream, ‘Prevalence of Multiple Long-Term Conditions (Multimorbidity) in England: A Whole Population Study of over 60 million people’, has been published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. 

Our study sought to determine the prevalence of multiple long-term conditions (MLTC) (defined as having two or more of 35 long-term conditions) at the whole English population level, stratifying by age, sex, socioeconomic status and ethnicity. The study uses the National ‘Bridges to Health’ Segmentation Dataset, which contains linked data for c.60 million individuals registered with a general practice in England and alive on 31st March 2020. 

We found that the overall prevalence of MLTC was 14.8% (8,878,231), varying from 0.9% (125,159) in those aged 0-19 years to 68.2% (1,905,979) in those aged 80 years and over. There were large numbers of combinations of conditions in each age group ranging from 5,936 in those 0-19 years to 205,534 in those aged 80 years and over. The prevalence of each condition in those with MLTC varied between age groups; in individuals aged 0-19 years, asthma, autism and epilepsy were dominant, while in individuals aged 20-49 years, depression and asthma were dominant and in individuals aged 50-59 years, hypertension and depression were dominant. In individuals aged 60-69 years, 70-79 years and 80+ years, cardiometabolic factors and osteoarthritis were dominant.

This study provides useful insight into the burden across the English population to assist health service delivery planning, however the heterogeneity of MLTC presents challenges for delivery optimisation.

Read more here: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/01410768231206033

Find out more about the underlying dataset used for this work, see here: https://outcomesbasedhealthcare.com/nhse-segmentation-dataset-reference-guide/

A new paper from a research partnership between Guy’s & St Thomas’​ Foundation, King’s College London and Outcomes Based Healthcare on ‘Identifying populations with chronic pain in primary care: developing an algorithm and logic rules applied to coded primary care diagnostic and medication data’ has been published in BMC Primary Care.

Estimates of chronic pain prevalence using coded primary care data have previously been lower than rates reported in community surveys. Our aim was to develop and test an algorithm combining medication codes with selected diagnostic codes to estimate chronic pain prevalence using coded primary care data. The resulting algorithm for chronic pain – based on four overarching criteria – was run on primary care data from 41 GP Practices in Lambeth (total population of 386,238 GP registered adults). The study found 16.6% (64,135) were identified as people with chronic pain. This definition demonstrated notably high rates in Black ethnicity females, and higher rates in the most deprived, and older population.

Our study demonstrates that it may be possible to establish more representative prevalence estimates using structured data than has been previously achieved. The use of logic rules therefore offers the potential to move systematic identification and population-based management of chronic pain into mainstream clinical practice at scale, and subsequently support improved management of symptom burden for people experiencing chronic pain.

Read the full article here: https://bmcprimcare.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12875-023-02134-1

Dr Rupert Dunbar Rees, Co-Founder and CEO of Outcomes Based Healthcare, was invited to join a panel of experts for a Cambridge Health Network Event. The panel and CHN members spoke about how ICSs will capture the benefits of data for their populations and patients.

Some key takeaways from the discussion:

• there is considerable scope to use data to improve population health, reduce inequalities in health, and improve quality and productivity of care delivery.
• data can be used to predict future patterns of demand, to identify communities for outreach work, to tackle wider determinants of health and target resources .
• data can increasingly be used to look at clinical outcomes over a whole care pathway, linking longitudinal data sets across providers and clinical conditions. There is already work underway at NHSE to identify outcome metrics which can be used to more meaningfully identify optimal care pathways rather than focusing on individual process metrics / individual disease area metrics.

Read more

In partnership with All Together Better (ATB) Sunderland, Outcomes Based Healthcare have jointly published a case study which provides reflections on the progress of the ATB Sunderland ‘Outcomes’ programme, and shares learning from Sunderland’s Population Health Management journey to date.  

ATB Sunderland is an alliance of out of hospital providers and commissioning organisations, who partnered with OBH in 2019 to develop capabilities and draw on expertise in outcome measurement. Over the past four years ATB Sunderland and OBH, have developed a unique person-level linked longitudinal primary and secondary care segmentation dataset for the population, using the internationally recognised ‘Bridges to Health’ Segmentation Model to their population. This dataset now underpins one of the richest longitudinal records of whole population health outcomes data of its kind, measuring outcomes on a monthly basis from April 2013 to March 2022. 

ATB Sunderland and OBH also built a comprehensive Outcomes Framework which includes 27 outcomes, aligned to key strategic areas of Sunderland CCG’s transformation programme and scope of services. This includes a unique set of outcome measures called ‘HEALTHSPAN®’, which can show whether people are in good health, and for what portion of their lives. Population-level ‘HEALTHSPAN®’ developed by OBH over the last five years is an objective whole population outcome measure of the amount of time individuals spend in good health. This is used to indicate the success of health and care systems in helping keep people healthy for the greatest possible proportion of their lives. 

The outcomes data is visualised in OBH’s Outcomes Platform, an online tool accessible to ATB clinicians and those working in the ATB alliance. The Outcomes Platform is part of ATB’s growing Population Health Management (PHM) programme. Insights are used to understand the health and care needs of the local population and to proactively plan services for different groups of people within the population. 

To read the full report, click here

To read the executive summary, click here

OBH has been featured in the Department for International Trade (DIT) Digital Health Playbook ‘Beyond 100’.

The Digital Health Playbook showcases UK innovators in the fields of Data & Analytics, Systems & Transformation, Healthy Aging.OBH were selected based on our track-record of working collaboratively within Healthcare UK (DIT), our innovation in digital health, and our commitment to export and expand internationally.

Find out more and see the full Playbook here: https://bit.ly/3HnSAQw

This week the paper on ‘Inequalities in developing multimorbidity over time: A population-based cohort study from an urban, multi-ethnic borough in the United Kingdom’, which was published in The Lancet. This was a collaborative analysis between King’s College London, NIHR and OBH.

The research shows that social and material deprivation accelerate the development of multimorbidity, yet the mechanisms which drive multimorbidity pathways and trajectories remain unclear. Our research aimed to examine the association between health inequality, risk factors and accumulation or resolution of LTCs, taking disease sequences into consideration.

After exploring the relations among 32 Long Term Conditions, taking the order of disease occurrence into consideration, we found there were distinctive patterns for the development and accumulation of multimorbidity. There is an increased risk of transitioning from no conditions to multimorbidity and mortality related to ethnicity, deprivation and gender.

Read the publication

We are thrilled to reveal that Outcomes Based Healthcare has been awarded a highly prestigious Queen’s Award for Enterprise, for “outstanding achievements in Innovation”!

Innovation is integral to OBH’s mission to drive health system improvement through measurement and incentivisation of health outcomes. In fact, we haven’t stopped innovating since OBH started 8 years ago… from creating our Segmentation Engine that drives the OBH Outcomes Platform, to developing HEALTHSPAN® as a way of measuring a population’s healthy lifespan, to supporting the NHS in the pandemic, and our ongoing commitment to supporting the work of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Longevity, #teamOBH really has been busy.

We are so grateful to everyone who has supported us over the years and feel honoured to be part of #TheQueensAwards for Enterprise 2021. Read about why OBH has been awarded a Queen’s Award here – find us on page 30!

Finally, congratulations to all our fellow #QueensAwards winners!

It feels like a long time ago that we set out with OBH- in fact, 8 years ago exactly! The original mission was to help solve one of the biggest problems in healthcare- enabling effective measurement and payment systems for prevention, and what really matters to people. In short, their health outcomes. We’ve grown over the years and the way we go about that mission has evolved, but we’re still innovating around that core purpose.

It’s been a busy year supporting the NHS in the pandemic, and we have been delighted to support some fabulous organisations in their work. Last week saw the release of the Levelling up Health Report by the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Longevity alongside their work on the Business for Health Index. We remain committed to supporting this work in whatever way we can.

OBH are also delighted to have worked with King’s College London on the recent flagship report addressing drivers of Multiple Long Term Conditions, published by Guy’s and St Thomas’ Foundation.

Thank you to OBH’s friends, supporters and team for supporting us over the last 8 years!

This week the ‘Easing pressures – how work, money and homes can make our cities healthier and fairer’ Impact on Urban Health Flagship report was published. The report addresses the wider determinants of health that can slow the progression from one to many long-term health conditions.

The report highlights research by King’s College London, with contributions from OBH, which analysed healthcare data from interactions between GPs and patients in Lambeth in 2020, as part of a broader study examining 15 years of data.
The key findings of the report highlight the strong link between health and work, and that the origins of multiple long-term conditions (mLTCs) are often linked to social and economic factors such as differences in income, ethnicity, first language, country of birth and neighbourhood.

Read the full report

We’re so excited to announce that OBH are now a strategic partner with NHS England on the #COVID19 Data & Analytics Community! Lots of exciting collaborative #segmentation #analytics work to come – understanding & deriving meaningful insight into population health at a local, regional and national level!

More information on the #futureNHS Data and Analytics for Covid-19 workspace can be found here.

OBH are thrilled to announce the launch of the Population and Person Insight dashboard! #TeamOBH have been working in partnership with NHS England and NHS Improvement, and NHS Arden & GEM CSU on a data-driven approach to understanding and deriving meaningful insight into population health. The dashboard has been developed using national datasets – including secondary care, emergency care, community services and specialised services data – to group patients into segments based on common healthcare needs.

Understanding the population by cohorts of those with similar health and care needs is integral to a more person-focussed health system. Using the Bridges to Health segmentation dataset, this tool enables deeper insight into people who are healthy, people with long term conditions, people with disability, as well as those people who are nearer the end of life with cancer, organ failure, frailty and dementia.

The interactive tool contains a series of views so that users can easily explore and interrogate these population segments at a national, regional, system, CCG and PCN level.

With four years’ worth of data, users can also drill down into acute utilisation, cost and outcomes by segment to support service planning and redesign. Visualisations by age, ethnicity, deprivation and socio-demographic classification help to easily identify cohorts for further investigation and analysis.

In response to the current pandemic, a COVID-19 view was also developed with the aim of aiding NHS restoration and recovery programmes by helping systems to identify their vulnerable populations who have one or more ‘at risk’ conditions to inform decision-making around shielding and planning for the largest vaccination programme in the history of the NHS.

Sukhmeet Panesar, Deputy Director of Strategy and Development at NHS England and NHS Improvement said: “The NHS generates a huge amount of data which can be used to drive improvements in care and how services are run. By providing health and care systems with data which is grouped by population segments we can support NHS and local authority leaders to plan effective services and interventions based on meeting the healthcare needs, risks and priorities of their patients and citizens.”

Ayub Bhayat, Chief Data Officer at Arden & GEM said: “The population and person insight report acts as a diagnostic tool for every level of the system, enabling commissioners and providers to spot opportunities for further analysis and intervention. By providing a starting point for population health management approaches, we can then work with local areas to refine the model with their local intelligence and benchmark emerging opportunities.”

Dr Nasrin Hafezparast, Chief Clinical Data Officer at Outcomes Based Healthcare said: “The internationally-recognised Bridges to Health segmentation model provides a person-centred approach. By using this approach as the foundation for the new report we can categorise the entire population of 62 million people into eight segments, with 55 subsegment or condition registries on a monthly basis, over the past 4 years. It includes a first ever view of population-level healthy lifespan, or HEALTHSPAN®. The report also incorporates feedback from a wide range of groups including clinicians to ensure the data is meaningful.”

The report, which was launched on 15 February, is available to healthcare commissioners and providers within the NHS ViewPoint analytical application.

For more information about the report, and the wider population and person insight workstream, visit the dedicated FutureNHS workspace.

We are very happy to announce that the Government’s Crown Commercial Service has again awarded Outcomes Based Healthcare supplier status on the latest Digital Marketplace platform, G-Cloud 12!

The OBH® Outcomes Platform is available as a Cloud Software Service & provides users with person-centred health outcome measures at a population and cohort/condition level, including OBH’s core prevention outcomes: HEALTHSPAN®. The Platform is powered by OBH’s® Segmentation Engine – an essential, core backbone for population health management data analytics work across different local NHS & local authority organisations, and their health and care partners. The Segmentation Engine is now also available as a ‘stand alone’ module, for more experienced NHS & local authority analytical teams, who wish to incorporate population segmentation datasets into their existing analytics work.

Based on the foundations of the Bridges to Health segmentation model, both solutions provide person-centred, meaningful insights for specific population segments & care pathways.

Find us on G-Cloud 12:
-OBH® Outcomes Platform (https://lnkd.in/daaNepF)
-OBH® Segmentation Engine (https://lnkd.in/dyU7wJf)