[November 26, 2012]

New Truven Health Solution Provides Visibility into Physician Referral Patterns

Truven Health Analytics?, formerly the Healthcare business of Thomson (News - Alert) Reuters, announced the launch of its Physician Referral Management solution designed to help hospital executives maximize resource utilization and reduce the number of referrals that send patients outside of their health networks. Truven Health has partnered with Enclarity® for the data that powers this solution.

Leveraging a nationwide database of more than six million healthcare provider profiles, the Physician Referral Management solution tracks referral trends across 75 percent of all physicians operating in 48 states. The solution gives hospital executives the analytic insights they need to understand primary care referral patterns across inpatient and outpatient services, identify high-volume referral and utilization by specialty and key service area, and spotlight areas where they are losing patients to out-of-network referrals.

"We are pleased to partner with Truven Health to provide the Physician Referral Management solution to hospitals and health systems," said Warren Gouk, CFO and Head of Business Development at Enclarity. "By combining the analytics expertise of Truven Health with the deep data assets of Enclarity, we can help hospital executives understand the physician activity in their market as never before."

Slightly more than nine percent of physician visits result in a referral, according to a June 2012 study published in the journal Archives, in which researchers analyzed nearly 850,000 patient visits in a nationally representative data set. This is nearly double the referral rate of 10 years ago. The trend toward increased referrals, combined with the more prominet role hospitals and health systems are playing in primary care, has driven the need for a solution to accurately measure referral traffic.

"In today's fee-for-service environment and as payment reform accelerates, it is critical for hospitals and health networks to understand referral patterns so they can identify revenue opportunities and stem potential losses," said C. Douglas Shaw, senior vice president for Truven Health Analytics hospital business. "As the rate of physician referrals nationwide continues to rise, it will become increasingly crucial for hospital executives to manage that process throughout their networks. We are offering a superior solution that leverages comprehensive data sets, management expertise and qualitative information to help hospital administrators answer questions about referrals in their market that have previously gone unanswered."

In addition to tracking referral activity within their own networks, the Truven Health Physician Referral Management solution enables competitive intelligence on referral patterns among health systems in a particular market. Delivered by an expert team of Truven Health consultants with deep experience in healthcare analytics and hospital and physician management, the Physician Referral Management solution also helps hospital executives identify specific service-line growth opportunities and target potential partners and acquisition targets.

For more information on the Truven Health Physician Referral Management solution, please click here.

About Truven Health Analytics?

Truven Health Analytics, formerly the Healthcare business of Thomson Reuters (News - Alert), delivers unbiased information, analytic tools, benchmarks, and services to the healthcare industry. Hospitals, government agencies, employers, health plans, clinicians, pharmaceutical, and medical device companies have relied on us for more than 30 years. We combine our deep clinical, financial, and healthcare management expertise with innovative technology platforms and information assets to make healthcare better by collaborating with our customers to uncover and realize opportunities for improving quality, efficiency, and outcomes. With more than 2,000 employees globally, we have major offices in Ann Arbor, Mich.; Chicago; and Denver. Advantage Suite, Micromedex, ActionOI, MarketScan, and 100 Top Hospitals are registered trademarks or trademarks of Truven Health Analytics. For more information, please visit www.truvenhealth.com.

About Enclarity, Inc.

Enclarity solves healthcare's provider information problem by compiling the largest, most accurate and current medical provider database. Nine of the 15 largest health insurance plans, four of the 10 largest preferred provider organizations, five of the top 15 pharmaceutical companies and the two largest medical device manufacturers count on Enclarity. Its solutions improve claims processing, provider directories, regulatory compliance and marketing optimization. For more information, visit www.enclarity.com.

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