Introduction

NetBaseQuid is a database of insights into companies that includes market intelligence and research reports. NetBaseQuid also provides tools and applications to track data from various sources.

A patientmap displays the path a patient takes as they move through the care continuum. The online community of business analysts, strategists, and consultants at NetBaseQuid collaborated to create a comprehensive visual guide to patient mapping. This guide will help you with the basics of patient mapping: what it is, why it’s essential, and things to consider when creating your map.

What Is Patient Journey Mapping?

A patient map represents the patient’s path as they move through the care continuum. The online community of business analysts, strategists, and consultants at NetBaseQuid collaborated to develop this comprehensive guide to patient mapping.

It’s important to understand that patientmapping is just one component of a broader strategy to improve care delivery systems. If you’re looking for a quick overview of the potential benefits of patientmapping, read the Benefits of PatientMapping section.

Why Is PatientMapping Important? The more than $2 trillion U.S. healthcare industry needs to find new ways to manage costs while maintaining or improving the quality of care. Achieving this goal depends on improved coordination between providers and payers and better information sharing between providers, payers, and patients.

A patient map helps visualize complex relationships in healthcare. It demonstrates how actions were taken at each point of the care continuum may have meaningful consequences for patients. This allows clinicians and managers to make data-driven decisions based on a patient’s journey. A patient map can be used to:

1. Understand the needs of individual patients, groups of patients, and a healthcare system.
2. Understand the broader issues affecting a healthcare system (reimbursement and incentives, population health management).
3. Continue to build on an organization’s existing data infrastructure to improve care delivery systems and communications.
4. Identify opportunities for reducing costs and improving quality.
5. Share a visual representation of the care continuum with other stakeholders within the healthcare system. 6. Create a more cohesive narrative about care delivery and patient outcomes, as well as opportunities to improve care delivery systems.

6 Things To Consider When Creating A Patient Map Understanding your internal process flow is critical to creating a practical map because it ensures that your map reveals essential patterns and connections among providers, payers, and patients. 7 Things To Consider When Creating An Effective Patient Map

Creating a practical patient map involves balancing the needs of the healthcare system, business goals, and the end-user. This guide simplifies your journey mapping process by considering these key factors.

1. Data Is Key. To create a practical map, you must use data appropriate to your audience. While the most excellent value of patient mapping is analysis and understanding, a patient map requires a certain level of data presentation. To ensure that you’re presenting clear value to an end-user, you should look for data that is:

2. CMIS Integration Patient Journey Mapping involves pulling together different data types from multiple sources within a healthcare system. This means integrating clinical information from electronic health records (EHR), financial and human resources databases, and administrative procedures. To do this, you need to ensure that these systems’ underlying data standards are consistent.
3. Organizational Context Understanding the organizational structure of a provider, payer, or care system is relevant to how a patient progresses through the care continuum. A patient map represents how a typical patient moves through the care continuum, but a patient may need to be more specific. They may have unique preferences or needs that cause them to divert from the path displayed on your map. To ensure that your patient map is relevant, you should consider the organizational structure of your target audience.
4. Timeframe Your journey map should reflect how a patient moves through the care continuum over time. This means looking at the time advancement of patients and events that cause them to deviate from the path in your journey map. The right time frame will depend on who you’re trying to inform and what you want that information to accomplish. 

5.