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ANALYZING COMMON COMORBID CONDITIONS TO IDENTIFY EMERGING COVID-19 HOT SPOTS
John Pagliuca Vice President, Global Life Sciences
Prasad Dindigal Vice President, Healthcare & Life Sciences
Written by
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The first is counties where COVID-19 is already present,
based on publicly available data from the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other sources.
Understand that this data is changing rapidly day-by-day,
sometimes hour-by-hour, so it forms a snapshot in time.
The second is EXL’s own proprietary Commercial Internal
Benchmark database of the U.S. population that tracks
risk factors based on pre-existing conditions. EXL used its
deep clinical analytics experience and actuarial expertise,
along with its long history of driving insights based on
rich data assets, to identify the effect these combined
factors could have in contributing the severity of COVID-19
exposure.
The resulting heat maps, which are shown in the
infographic, highlight the U.S. counties that have a high
risk of becoming COVID-19 hot spots due to the greater
presence of underlying comorbid conditions. They
examine five of the high risk conditions in the U.S. –
diabetes, heart disease, lung disease, Kidney disease and
immunosuppressive conditions – that also leave patients/
members particularly vulnerable to the devastating effects
of COVID-19.
With this data in-hand, commercial effectiveness teams
can approach HCPs to help them understand who
among their patient populations is at the highest risk if
COVID-19 strikes their area so they know where to focus
their attention before disaster hits. Much like boarding
windows and laying sandbags before a hurricane helps
protect personal safety and property, getting ahead of any
changes that could drive a negative outcome in a specific
county can help HCPs mitigate its effects.
From the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic we have
been told that the highest-risk populations are those
with one or more pre-existing chronic conditions such as
chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma,
heart disease, chronic heart failure (CHF) and diabetes.
It makes sense given the effect COVID-19 has on the
cardiopulmonary system. Those whose systems are
already compromised are far more susceptible to its
effects, increasing the likelihood they will have a poor
outcome if they contract it.
These factors speak to the urgency of ensuring that
patients with these chronic conditions adhere to their
medications as prescribed. Simply put, the better their
general health is, the better they will be able to resist the
virus if they are exposed for some reason.
While the obvious target for increased communications
and education about medication efficacy and adherence
is areas where COVID-19 is already well-established, there
is a second group for whom it is equally important: those
in areas of rising risk. These are counties where there is a
small presence of COVID-19 – perhaps a handful of cases
– but where the prevalence of vulnerable populations is
high.
With that in mind, EXL Healthcare has developed an
infographic that shows where the populations most
vulnerable to poor COVID-19 outcomes reside on a county-
by-county basis. By sharing this information, life sciences
commercial effectiveness teams can help healthcare
providers (HCPs) understand which patients may require
extra education or counseling about the importance of
maintaining adherence to their medications and how life
sciences companies can help reduce their costs where
needed. The infographic is based on two factors.
ANALYZING COMMON COMORBID CONDITIONS TO IDENTIFY EMERGING COVID-19 HOT SPOTS
About EXL Healthcare
EXL combines unmatched healthcare domain expertise with data-driven insights and digital technology to transform how care is delivered, managed and paid. Our digitally-enabled transformation solutions orchestrate innovation, automation and performance excellence to impact payment accuracies, cost management, quality outcomes, and appropriate utilization ― all key to value-based performance. Covering more than 150 million lives, EXL partners with organizations across the healthcare spectrum including payers, providers, PBMs and life sciences companies. To learn more visit www.exlservice.com/healthcare.
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For example, commercial effectiveness teams can share
information about the financial assistance programs their
organizations offer to help make medications affordable,
helping HCPs remove one of the largest obstacles to
medication adherence. Additionally, they can present their
medication adherence programs that educate patients on
the importance of taking their medications as-prescribed,
not just during the pandemic but moving forward as well.
The heat map also helps life sciences marketing teams
understand where they should increase their support of
HCPs through direct-to-consumer advertising. By targeting
those areas with both general and COVID-19-specific
messaging they can help reach a larger population,
especially in areas where HCPs don’t have sufficient care
management resources.
Once the immediate crisis has passed, life sciences
organizations will be able to use these same types of
analytics to demonstrate how effective their programs
were in helping reduce the impact of COVID-19 on patients
with various conditions by comparing the results of HCPs
who used their programs versus those who didn’t. This will
create a powerful testament as to why they should work
more closely together moving forward.
Like a hurricane track, the situation with COVID-19 is
constantly evolving. EXL Healthcare will continue to
update its analysis with new insights as they become
available.
For now, however, life sciences commercial effectiveness
teams can do the HCPs they serve, as well as their
communities, a huge service by helping their most
vulnerable populations do all they can to remain healthy
so they can resist COVID-19 more effectively. The goodwill
they generate, as well as the proof points, will serve them
well not just today but in the future as well.
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