The Bifocal Lens of Preventive Care: Not Just Avoiding Illness, but Errors Too

Open up seemingly any discussion of American healthcare, whether online or in print, and you’re almost certain to find Benjamin Franklin’s centuries-old advice about an ounce of prevention being worth a pound of cure. Most often that axiom is interpreted literally: preventive care is more effective and less costly than curative therapies. An apple a day keeps the doctor away, and apples are a heck of a lot cheaper than doctors.

While Franklin was actually talking about fire safety, not healthcare, his point remains both important and valid: better to avoid a mistake in the first place than to deal with an emergency down the road. The spirit behind that point animates much of what we do at Spreemo Health. As documented in The Spine Journal (http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.spinee.2016.11.009) and covered by Dr. Max Gomez and CBS (http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2017/02/17/mri-scan-study/), we recently funded a landmark radiology study conducted by Hospital for Special Surgery and Thomas Jefferson University that found diagnostic error rates of up to 43%, considerably higher than previously reported in the literature. In addition, the study uncovered significant variability in reported diagnostic findings from center to center – for instance, in ten MRIs of the same patient, not a single diagnostic finding was unanimously reported by all ten centers in the study.

Those mistakes matter, because medical errors have significant consequences. Absent better information, most people tend to look at an MRI as a mere commodity, choosing a provider based only on price and convenience. But all MRIs are not created equal. All too often, starting with bad information leads to bad outcomes.

The problem is, differences in quality are largely invisible to patients and even to many treating physicians. The right radiology provider can make the difference between speedy and protracted recoveries, between well-targeted treatments and misguided ones that run up unnecessary costs and risk harming patients.

At Spreemo Health, we’re engaged in innovative data analytics, driving forward the emerging science of quality. The best way to get patients better is to get them the correct diagnosis right from the start. This conviction was borne out by an independent study conducted by one of Spreemo’s Fortune 50 clients who sought to quantify the benefits of quality care from Spreemo-identified centers of excellence. Their study showed that Spreemo Health made a meaningful impact on downstream care, significantly improving patient outcomes and dramatically reducing costs in the process.

By aligning the interests of patients, payers, and providers through improved care quality, Spreemo Health ensures that everyone benefits. And certainly, an apple is a heck of a lot better than a spinal fusion.