Value sets play a pivotal role in how healthcare data is leveraged to be more effective and efficient across clinical, operational, and financial domains. As the demand for precise and comprehensive data grows, it becomes increasingly important to understand how organizations manage this data and the available methods for its creation and maintenance.
What are value sets?
Value sets are groups of codes and terms that define clinical concepts. These groups of data are vital for ensuring consistency and accuracy across the continuum, from hospitals and health systems to health information exchanges (HIE) and clinical research organizations.
Value sets are used extensively both inside and outside of electronic health records (EHRs). By standardizing the terminology and codes in these groups, value sets also enable more effective data sharing and interoperability among providers, researchers, and institutions.
Some common uses for value sets include:- Patient cohorting: Grouping patients with similar characteristics for analysis and care planning
- Population health management: Monitoring and improving health outcomes for specific groups
- Clinical trials: Ensuring effective patient recruitment, consistent data collection, and trial interpretation
- Quality reporting: Standardizing data for regulatory compliance and performance measurement
- Clinical decision support: Automating notifications or reminders within EHRs to enhance clinician decision-making and improve patient outcomes
In-house creation and maintenance
In-house value set creation involves developing and managing value sets internally, including the identification of clinical concepts, code selection, validation, and ongoing maintenance.In-house teams often rely on a combination of rudimentary tools and software to create and manage value sets, such as spreadsheets and clinical terminology and classification systems (e.g. SNOMED CT®, ICD-10).
Challenges of in-house approaches
While this method allows for unique customization tailored to specific organizational needs, it doesn’t come without challenges, including:
- Resource intensity: Requires dedicated time and expertise from multiple stakeholders, potentially diverting attention from other critical tasks
- Quality assurance: Maintaining accuracy and consistency across complex value sets can be challenging without robust validation processes
- Interoperability: Customized value sets may not align seamlessly with external systems or standard terminologies, hindering data exchange and interoperability efforts
- Scalability: As healthcare evolves, updating and scaling value sets to accommodate new standards and guidelines can strain internal resources
While in-house approaches to value set creation and maintenance provide control and customization, they require careful planning, ongoing validation, and a collection of expert resources to mitigate shortcomings and cost savings effectively.
Open-source tools and publicly available data
Open-source value set tools and publicly available value sets offer organizations an alternative approach, leveraging community efforts and collaborative platforms for healthcare data interoperability.
Open-source tools involve software and platforms that facilitate the creation, validation, and maintenance of value sets, whereas publicly available value sets are curated collections of standardized clinical concepts and terminologies that organizations can adopt or adapt for their specific needs. These sets are often managed by governmental agencies, healthcare standards organizations, or research institutions.
Several open-source tools and platforms support the management of value sets, such as the Value Set Authority Center (VSAC) and FHIR Terminology Services (FTS), which supports the use of Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) for accessing and managing terminologies and value sets.
Shortcomings of open-source tools and publicly available data
Despite their advantages, open-source tools and publicly available value sets present challenges such as:
- Complexity of adoption: Integrating standardized value sets into existing systems may require specialized technical expertise and resources
- Maintenance and updates: Ensuring the currency and accuracy of publicly available value sets may depend on the responsiveness of hosting organizations to evolving clinical standards and guidelines
- Compatibility issues: Variations in terminology and coding conventions across different regions or healthcare systems can complicate the adoption and interoperability of publicly available value sets
- Community dependency: Reliance on community-driven updates and contributions may introduce variability in quality and consistency across different value sets
Native EHR tools and modules
Native EHR tools and functionalities are built-in features that allow for the creation, maintenance, and integration of value sets alongside typical EHR capabilities. These tools are developed by EHR vendors and are designed to work within their specific platforms, offering integration and ease of use for provider organizations.
Like in-house approaches, this method involves a variety of different stakeholders but may involve the EHR vendor as well to train users and troubleshoot issues related to the challenges with managing complex, ever-evolving data.
Shortcomings of native EHR tools
Despite the benefits of consolidating various data tools into a single application, native functionalities come with notable shortcomings:
- Interoperability issues: Reduced data sharing and collaboration across settings
- Limited customization: Less flexibility compared to open-source alternatives
- Adaptation challenges: Difficulty meeting specific needs or integrating with other solutions
- Vendor dependence: Reliance on vendor support for updates and troubleshooting
Meeting data quality and workflow efficiency demands with IMO Precision Sets
In response to demands for streamlined data management and more control over value sets, IMO Health developed IMO Precision Sets. Offering a first-of-its-kind editing and maintenance tool, clinical terminology expertise, and highly accurate pre-packaged value sets, IMO Precision Sets goes beyond what is available in the market today.What makes IMO Precision Sets unique?
IMO Precision Sets differs from in-house approaches and existing technology tools in several key areas:
- Comprehensive, always-current clinical terminology and coding: Up-to-date terms and code maps with complex clinical nuances
- Proven subject matter expertise: Continuously updated data fine-tuned by industry-recognized, PhD-level experts
- User-friendly interface: Intuitive software for searching, selecting, organizing, and maintaining value sets, accessible in IMO Studio
- EHR- and HIT-agnostic data management: Compatible with various tech stacks, meeting users where they are
Successes with IMO Precision Sets
Whether organizations are leveraging new creation and maintenance tooling or ready-to-use value sets, IMO Health has helped its clients make meaningful impacts across their organizations through:
- Improved data quality: Significant improvements in data accuracy, specificity, and consistency due to IMO Health terminology and code mappings
- Enhanced efficiency: Streamlined workflows and reduced administrative burden, allowing clinicians to focus more on patient care
- Greater regulatory compliance: Facilitated compliance with quality reporting and regulatory requirements, reducing the risk of penalties
The current state of healthcare value set management reveals significant challenges with traditional in-house approaches and open-source tools and data, which often struggle with scalability, interoperability, and maintenance.
Innovative solutions like IMO Precision Sets overcome these shortcomings, offering advanced capabilities for seamless integration, timely updates, and enhanced accuracy.
