Chronic population based cost model to compare effectiveness of preventive care programs

Abstract

Our invention is a cost model for healthcare, based not on “age”, as it is done currently, but on “chronic illness” as a risk factor. Using the model it is possible to derive two burden numbers, “Primary” and “Secondary” that is an inverse measure of the success of primary and secondary preventive care programs. Using this new metric, a better explanation for cost increases is possible. It can help estimate increases more accurately and make explicit suggestions on where the focus of attention should be to lowering costs. Trendlines of the metric can measure performance of care programs month by month and not have to wait a decade to yield perceptible results. A particular embodiment of this model is the software program described in this application, called HealthKeys, which serves as a decision support system for CFOs of companies and healthplans to help institute relevant preventive care programs and measure the success of them. HealthKeys is one example of a “useful, concrete and tangible result” that is based on our invention of a new cost model.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.