By: Book Chrobak, Health Analytics Manager

As health prices continue to rise and health insurance premiums soar past inflation, Americans across the country are looking for new ways to save money on their healthcare. However, many individuals have no insight into the costs of treatment. Healthcare has historically held itself to a culture of secrecy, bucking any attempt to reveal transparent costs to the public. Today, the tides have turned. Everyday Americans and politicians alike are demanding the union of data analytics and healthcare.

Roundstone recognized this shift and has been hard at work the last year creating our answer to the ongoing issue of analytics and healthcare. One of our core values since our company’s inception is to offer clear, transparent control to all of our health benefits clients. We believe the Roundstone CSI Dashboard is the solution to the challenge of transparency in health care and health insurance.

What can you Expect from the CSI Dashboard?

The CSI Dashboard, Roundstone’s health insurance analytics platform, was created by the Roundstone Cost Saving Investigators (CSI Team). The Roundstone CSI Team is a collection of internal cost containment experts who work with our benefit advisors and employer clients to deliver cost saving solutions that can be implemented directly into a health plan.

The CSI Dashboard provides a visual display of an employer group’s medical claims that allow for real time review of their healthcare spend. It is HIPAA compliant and anonymous in terms of individual employee claims. This proprietary innovation quickly pinpoints in which areas groups are performing well in while also providing deeper insight into where costs can be reduced.

Key benefits of the CSI Dashboard include:

• – Automated monthly reporting detailed by service type, claim category and condition.
• – Claims spend compared to a set of benchmark values to determine if expenses are running above or below the national average.
• – Explanations of what the data analytics mean in an easy-to-understand format.
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How Data Analytics Help Control Costs

Gaining access to healthcare claims data is only the first step towards controlling overall plan costs. To realize tangible cost saving opportunities, the data must be analyzed in order to identify actionable next steps and better outcomes.

The CSI Team will work with each employer group’s benefit advisor to deliver cost containment recommendations (CCRs) based on data pulled from the CSI Dashboard. Companies enrolled with Roundstone will receive four customized dashboards from their advisor each month. If there is an unusual high spend identified, the benefits advisor will work alongside the Roundstone CSI Team to isolate any cost containment recommendations for immediate implementation.

It is important to remember that high cost does not always equal better quality health care. In fact, a recent study showed that high quality hospitals deliver lower cost care for 82% of diagnoses. The CSI Dashboard will help its users identify areas of abnormally high health care costs—allowing employers the chance to educate their employees on Centers of Excellence where they can receive better care for a lower cost.

For example, assume Roundstone viewed one employer’s CSI Dashboard and anonymously identified an employee with a diagnosis of Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), which may result in high-dollar claims in the future. Roundstone may recommend to the employer and their benefit advisor that the individual should consider a Digestive Health Management program. The program would be designed to reduce or eliminate emergency room visits. The program would cost merely $385—where an unexpected trip to the emergency room could cost upwards of $1,000. This is just a sample of how the CSI Dashboard can help employers save money through cost containment recommendations.

How to Get Started

The CSI Dashboard is set to launch July 1^st. At that time, all qualified benefit advisors and employers currently enrolled in the Roundstone program will receive an email gaining access to their particular CSI Dashboard. Please note that the dashboard will only be available to employers whose Third-Party Administrator (TPA) has allowed us to access their claims data. Not every employer will be able to access the CSI Dashboard immediately, but we are working to gain admittance with each TPA.

Interested in learning more? The Roundstone team will be offering webinars each Friday starting July 12^th through August 9^th to explain the functionality of the CSI Dashboard. Please stay tuned for how you can attend.

If you are not a current Roundstone employer, please contact us to learn how you can start controlling your costs through the power of data analytics and healthcare.

About the Author:

Book Chrobak majored in Mathematics from the College of Wooster and completed his M.B.A. with a Finance concentration at Cleveland State University. When he’s not crunching numbers and data, he serves on the College of Wooster Alumni Board, participates in multiple committees for the Old Brooklyn Community Development Corporation Board, and enjoys long distance running.