News & Blog

OBH awarded supplier status on G-Cloud 12!

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)

Diabetes #COVID19 mortality & risk in England paper published in The Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology!

Fantastic to see NHSE England and Public Health England’s #diabetes #COVID19 mortality & risk in England paper published in The Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology!

The whole population study used the Bridges to Health National Population Segmentation dataset developed in partnership between Outcomes Based Healthcare, NHS England, Arden and Gem CSU and Public Health England to identify co-morbidities and ethnicity.

One of the many brilliant examples of the power of #healthanalytics in creating actionable insights to support the national response to Covid-19 – driven by a multidisciplinary team of clinicians, analysts, researchers and more!

Read the full paper here.

 

National HEALTHSPAN and Lifespan modelling in the UK features in Longevity Trends 2020 Report!

Published by the Longevity Leaders in August 2020, the report summarises the most important trends in longevity research to date that businesses, policy makers, scientists and the general population should be aware of.

Having recently presented at the Longevity Leaders World Congress 2020 on National HealthSpan and Lifespan modelling in the UK, CEO Rupert’s presentation was summarised in this edition of the Longevity Trends Report. Making reference to OBH’s objective HEALTHSPAN® measure which monitors population-level changes in the proportion of life spent in good health, the whitepaper highlights the importance of applying an objective approach to measuring individual health status, covering whole populations.

With evidence suggesting that more people are being diagnosed with significant long-term conditions earlier in their lives, and living with them for longer than we had previously thought, measuring the progression of ill health and population level changes over a life course has never been more important.

Read the full report here.

OBH awarded grant by UK government to fund project – Outcomes Risk Scores for Covid-19 Vulnerable Populations!

OBH are delighted to announce that we have been awarded a grant by the UK government to fund our project – Outcomes Risk Scores for Covid-19 Vulnerable Populations!

Rapidly repurposing the robust foundations of the Bridges to Health national population segmentation model developed in conjunction with NHS England, Public Health England and Arden and Gem CSU, the development of Covid-19 Risk scores will allow an enhanced understanding of the relative and independent risk factors relating to #Covid-19. This analysis will enable the risk profile of local areas to be accurately assessed and stratified according to the latest emerging evidence, and also support our understanding of the effect of age and ethnicity on Covid-19 complications, independent of comorbidities.

The Innovate UK Covid-19 Rapid Response competition received a record 8,600 applications, investing £40 million to support UK businesses to focus on emerging or increasing needs of society and industries during and following the #Covid-19 pandemic. Find out more about our Covid-19 work here!

Rupert speaks at the Longevity Leaders World Congress on National HealthSpan and Lifespan modelling in the UK!

In keeping with the somewhat virtual world most of us continue to live in, CEO Rupert spoke at the Longevity Leaders World Congress 2020 via livestream this week on the topic of “Data-dive: National HealthSpan and Lifespan modelling in the UK”!

OBH recently contributed to the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Longevity ‘The Health of the Nation’ national strategy for #HealthierLongerLives, and Rupert discussed the importance of applying an objective approach to measuring individual health status, covering whole populations. This evidence suggests that more people are being diagnosed with significant long-term conditions earlier in their lives, and living with them for longer than we had previously thought. So measuring the progression of ill health and population level changes over a life course has never been more important.

Using routinely collected, linked longitudinal health and care data, from multiple ‘real world’ care settings, OBH’s objective HEALTHSPAN® measure monitors population-level changes in the proportion of life spent in good health.

More information here!

Juliana presents at the IBRAVS Knowledge Agenda on Value-Based Healthcare in England – Implementation at Population Level!

Speaking live from London to an audience over 5000 miles away (!), COO Juliana recently presented at the IBRAVS Knowledge Agenda 2020, on the topic: Value-Based Healthcare in England – Implementation at Population Level.

As part of a webinar series aimed at improving our understanding of what “value in health” really means, Juliana provided a whistle-stop tour of the current VBHC landscape in the UK, the importance of segmentation according to clinical needs at a whole population level, and the application of VBHC initiatives and segmentation within the context of Covid-19.

To find out more (and if your Portuguese is up to scratch!) click the link to the full video now available to watch on Youtube!

HAPPY SEVENTH BIRTHDAY OBH!

As we mark our birthday virtually this year against the backdrop of the current pandemic, we’d like to thank all of our amazing OBH supporters, advisors and friends who’ve been part of our exciting journey measuring what matters most in health over past 7 years! Here are a few highlights from what has definitely been the busiest (and more recently, the most unpredictable!) year yet…. including the prospect of potentially taking on some clinical work again amongst the data analytics work for some of us.

Over the past 12 months, OBH have been working with NHS England on the implementation of an actionable, common, data-driven approach to population segmentation. In collaboration with NHS Arden and GEM Commissioning Support Unit and the Data, Analysis and Intelligence Service (DAIS) at NHSE/I, the programme of work seeks to build a common framework for segmentation by developing the ‘Bridges to Health’ segmentation model using data sources from the National Commissioning Data Repository (NCDR).

Building on the solid foundations of this person-centred data model, over the past few weeks we’ve been very busy adjusting the model to address the immediate needs of the COVID-19 pandemic response. This aims to support work to establish the populations currently thought to be most ‘vulnerable’ to severe illness from COVID -19. Find out more here.

Back in February, which already seems like a completely different era, we were delighted to have contributed to the APPG ‘The Health of the Nation’ national strategy for #HealthierLongerLives! We look forward to continuing to support this important work, applying OBH’s objective HealthSpan™ and HealthyLifespan® Index at a population level to meet the government’s mission of five extra healthy years by 2035. Given recent events, ensuring a renewed focus on the prevention of ill-health, whilst narrowing the gap between the richest and the poorest seems more urgent than ever. Read the full report here.

Having been selected to participate in the Health Data Research UK Sandbox in September 2019, we look forward to continuing this work involving the use of linked, longitudinal health data to measure and validate OBH’s HealthSpan™ and HealthyLifespan® index measures throughout the future. Find out more here.

And last but not least, we had a great time hosting our second clinical associates network event at the Health Foundry back in October! It was fantastic to see so many members of the #obhnetwork community and welcome some new faces too.

Despite current events, we look forward to seeing what the next year has to hold in what we hope will be a slightly less strange time for everyone! From everyone in the OBH team, we’d like to thank you again for all your support over the past 7 years. We hope you, your families and colleagues keep safe and well.

#OBHis7 #outcomes #healthspan

Launch of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Longevity national strategy for #HealthierLongerLives!

OBH are delighted to have contributed to the APPG ‘The Health of the Nation’ national strategy for #HealthierLongerLives, launched in February 2020!

OBH’s objective HEALTHSPAN® and HEALTHY LIFESPAN® Index measures use routinely collected, population-level, linked longitudinal health & care data across multiple care settings. These accurately measure the proportion of people’s lives which are spent in good health – either at national, regional or local level. By applying such metrics at a population level, we are able to gain a comprehensive and objective understanding of the health of the nation. This includes the health and care expenditure associated with improvements or deteriorations in HEALTHSPAN.

We look forward to continuing to support this fantastic work to meet the government’s mission of five extra healthy years by 2035, ensuring a renewed focus on the prevention of ill-health, while narrowing the gap between richest and poorest.

Read the full report here: https://appg-longevity.org/events-publications.

Outcomes, HEALTHSPAN and more at the second OBH Clinical Associates Network event!

In October, OBH were delighted to host the second Clinical Associates Network event at the Health Foundry!

Senior Analysts Ellie and Rose kicked off with OBH’s latest work on population segmentation and HealthSpan measurement. They discussed the importance of baseline measures and real-time measurement when monitoring outcomes, as well as the adaptation of the Bridges to Health segmentation model to allow local health and care systems to configure their segments according to their priorities.

Bob Klaber then followed with a fantastic overview of his work on the Connecting Care for Children programme, highlighting the importance of building relationships across providers and people, summarising key design prinicples to consider when organising care models for children and young people.

It was fantastic to see so many members of the #obhnetwork community and welcome some new faces too….we look forward to hosting the next event!

Read more about the OBH Clinical Associates Network here.

OBH continue next phase of Multiple Long-Term Condition programme alongside Guy’s and St Thomas’ Charity & King’s College London

We are delighted to announce that OBH will continue working in partnership with Guy’s and St Thomas’ (GSTT) Charity and King’s College London (KCL) on a programme of work focussed around understanding and slowing the progression to multiple long-term conditions.

The first stage of the project involved defining a list of 32 long-term conditions and six risk factors through a rigorous consultation method with patient representatives, partners from the NHS, local government and the voluntary sector. Both national and international definitions of long-term conditions were analysed, amongst other criteria including the impact of long-term conditions on people’s lives, treatment burden, age of onset and likelihood of progression to further long-term conditions, amongst others.

The next stage will continue to explore multiple long-term conditions, including factors like the impact of deprivation in people’s journey and the role of key life events as potential windows for early intervention. We look forward to continue working in partnership with GSTT Charity and KCL on this exciting and important project!

Read more about the project here.

OBH selected for Health Data Research UK Sandbox!

We are very excited to announce that OBH has been selected to participate in the Health Data Research UK Sandbox!

The initial phase of the programme will involve the use of linked, longitudinal health data to measure and validate OBH’s HEALTHSPAN and HEALTHY LIFESPAN index measures.

Health Data Research UK is the national institute for health data science with a mission to align the UK’s health data to enable discoveries that improve people’s lives. The Health Data Research UK Sandbox is a virtual testing environment for products, services, innovations or knowledge that require access to large scale data to improve the health of patients and the population. The Sandbox will provide test cases for a government initiative, delivered by Health Data Research UK, to transform access to the UK’s health data – safely and securely – for research that could pioneer new and faster treatments for patients and find new cures for diseases.

We are delighted to have been selected and look forward to being involved in this exciting programme!

OBH and Centene UK launch new publication on the Evaluation of Outcomes Frameworks for use in Integrated Care Systems

The paper launched in April reviewed 5 outcomes frameworks, including the NHS Outcomes Framework (NHSOF) and The Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF), with the aim of understanding the technical measure integrity and viability behind each indicator. OBH drew from their clinical, analytics and NHS data experience to capture considerations such as data availability, accuracy and robustness over time.

Whilst publicly available frameworks can be used for a range of purposes including monitoring quality, benchmarking providers against one another and to highlight variation in care provision, the paper argues that these frameworks are less effective when measuring and monitoring outcomes at a local-level. OBH recommends a greater focus on outcomes, a well-defined and locally configured segmentation model, local agreement on outcomes across the health and care system, as well as the use of local linked datasets, across all providers to allow the measurement of true outcomes in near-real time.

The official launch of the paper took place at the NHS Elect event in April on “Reflections on Delivering Integrated Care in the NHS”, where CEO Rupert and Senior Health Outcomes Analyst Ellie presented the findings. The event featured presentations from Centene about their work in the UK, as well as case studies from across the NHS Elect network. The full paper can be found on the Resources page on our website.

Rupert speaks at PCC event on Measuring Outcomes in Integrated Services

In April, CEO Rupert spoke at the Primary Care Commissioning event on “Measuring outcomes in Integrated Services”.

The event covered various themes including population segmentation, outcomes measurement for the currently healthy population, contracts to secure integrated service provision, as well as the financial considerations of implementing integrated services. Delegates included CCG chief officers, directors of commissioning and directors of finance.

Read more here.

CEO Rupert invited to join the Strategic Advisory Board for the All Party Parliamentary Group for Longevity

We are delighted to announce that in April, CEO Rupert was invited to join the Strategic Advisory Board for the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Longevity, chaired by Lord Filkin.

The APPG aims to address the scientific, technological and socio-economic issues related to the growing ageing demographic to promote living younger, healthier and longer lives, in line with the Industrial Strategy Grand Challenges. The group will facilitate a cross-disciplinary exchange about the advantages of longevity within an ethical, citizen-centred framework, and develop practical guidance and recommendations for the UK government.

At the first Strategic Advisory Board Meeting, Rupert was invited to speak about OBH’s work identifying the ‘currently healthy’ population, and the measurement of outcomes for this specific population group. Whilst health and care systems have generally succeeded in prolonging life in recent years, a whole population, objective, system-level understanding as to whether or not these ‘extra years’ have been lived in good health has yet to be determined. Rupert conveyed the importance of metrics such as HEALTHSPAN and HEALTHY LIFESPAN INDEX in addressing the unsustainable rise of health and care costs. Such metrics are excellent markers of prevention and indicators of progress in achieving several key national targets.

COO Juliana to give a keynote speech at the HIMSS Hospitalar Forum in Sao Paulo, and joins Department for International Trade on a trade mission to Brazil

We are excited to announce that COO Juliana will be giving a keynote speech under the Health Analytics vertical on 24th of May 2019 at HIMSS Hospitalar focusing on “Digital Health – Prediction, Prevention and Precision Care”. She will share OBH’s experience in the UK and discuss the application of population segmentation and advanced analytics to measure HEALTHY LIFESPAN.. The event remains the most influential event in the Latin American healthcare segment, exhibiting over 1,200 companies and 85,000 delegates from 50 countries, discussing the latest innovations in health and care.

Whilst in Brazil, Juliana has also been invited to attend several meetings with key local stakeholders, facilitated by the DIT Brazil together with the UK Consulate in Sao Paulo. We are delighted for Juliana to have the opportunity to join another international mission, and would like to thank DIT Brazil for their ongoing support.

CEO Rupert speaks at IBM Watson event on AI and Data Analytics

In March, CEO Rupert spoke at the IBM Watson Health event on the role of Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics in transforming healthcare.

Rupert discussed the importance of linking clinical, cost and operational datasets to ensure timely outcomes reporting, as well as how the unlocking of data could help achieve better, informed care decisions across pathways. He also emphasised the need to measure outcomes for healthy populations in addition to those who are already being treated for an illness, stating that this was an essential step forward in the proactive analysis required in order to effectively implement targeted prevention strategies.

The event, hosted at the King’s Fund and delivered in partnership with IBM Watson Health, discussed the latest opportunities that science and technology can bring to health and care, including their role in actioning the government’s focus on prevention outlined in the NHS Long Term Plan.

Faculty of Clinical Informatics appoint Nasrin and Rupert as Fellows

We are delighted to announce that in February, CEO Rupert and CTO Nasrin were accepted as Fellows of the Faculty of Clinical Informatics!

The faculty was established as the professional membership body for all clinical informaticians within the UK – formed of a group of health and social care professionals, who through their specialist knowledge around data and information technology, can assist in the delivery of safe, person-centred care.

The FCI aims to establish clinical informatics as a recognised profession, develop professional standards, provide training and accreditation for individuals and courses, and support recruitment and careers in clinical informatics.

CEO Rupert Speaks at NHSE Population Health Management Community of Practice event

In December, Rupert spoke at the third Community of Practice event for population health management leads across ICSs, organised by NHS England’s System Transformation Group.

The event began with updates from the group, followed by the keynote session focusing on enablers and outcomes of integrating health and social care at an international level. The afternoon sessions allowed delegates to participate in a variety of workshops, with topics including the measuring of health outcomes, the role of an integrated care record in supporting PHM, as well as segmentation and integration.

Speaking specifically on the measurement of health outcomes, Rupert discussed the particular segmentation requirements for outcome measurement. This included how OBH ‘segments’ populations using a version of the Bridges to Health model, built around the unique features of NHS health and care data. This evolved into an interesting discussion around child health and young adults, notably on how population segmentation requirements may fundamentally differ for this cohort.

OBH support multiple Long-Term Conditions programme with King’s College London

In November, OBH started a new programme of work with King’s College London, on understanding multiple Long-Term Conditions in Lambeth and Southwark, funded by Guy’s and St Thomas’s Charity (GSTTc). The programme aims to explore and understand people who are at high risk of developing multiple long-term conditions, and delay their onset or prevent the development of multimorbidity.

OBH have been building models around defining, identifying and understanding people with long-term conditions as part of their work on the development of the Bridges to Health segmentation data model. They will be bringing this expertise to the programme, and expanding the evaluation and analysis to deep dive into multimorbidity. With both national and international approaches to defining a LTC and multiple-LTCs varying significantly, the initial stage of the project involves developing and collectively agreeing upon a definition. This is a crucial part of any work on multimorbidity as stated by the recent Academy of Medical Sciences report on multimorbidity. The long-term conditions that will be defined in scope of the programme will be included based on those conditions that impact people’s lives, that are highly prevalent, and that are most referenced by national and international sources.

We look forward to working with GSTT Charity and King’s College through the duration of this programme; with the ambitious vision of further understanding progression, and delaying or preventing the onset of multimorbidity.

The official launch of the OBH Clinical Associates Network!

This December saw the official launch of the OBH Clinical Associates Network!

CEO Rupert spoke to a full house as he welcomed everyone to the event, beginning with a brief overview of our work on value, outcomes and population segmentation across the NHS over the last 5 years. This was followed by presentations from our two guest speakers. Ivan Beckley (UCL Medical student, MSc Data science) firstly discussed his incredible journey so far as a medical student, including his experience as an intern at OBH, as well as his thoughts on AI and it’s role within the future of the NHS. Toby Colgate-Stone (Consultant Orthopaedic Trauma Surgeon and OBH Clinical Associate) then followed, providing a fascinating talk around his work at King’s College Foundation Trust, discussing ways in which he has seen and experienced the implementation of value on the front-line.

It was fantastic to see so many people interested in being part of the value-based community in the UK. We look forward to hosting our next Clinical Associates Network event soon!

If you are a clinician/medical student interested in joining the OBH Clinical Associates Network, visit the page on our website to find out more.