Our current quantitative effort is focused on the High-Need, High-Cost population in Harris County. However, we believe the type of inquiry we are pursuing to better understand the High-Need, High-Cost population will apply to other complex patients we will identify through the Community Health Council effort.
We believe three broad questions are key to getting to know the High-Need, High-Cost patients (and any other group of complex patients) are:
- Can significant risk factors for High-Need, High-Cost patient be isolated and ranked? Which risk factors are traceable over time and potentially modifiable?
- How do High-Need, High-Cost patients behave over time? What determines a contingent of High-Need, High-Cost patients that super-use outside of a discrete period of time and are not prone to regressing to the mean?
- Where do High-Need, High-Cost patients live and why? Which neighborhoods are more likely to host a higher concentration of High-Need, High-Cost patients? Are their neighborhoods that deviate from the expected number of High-Need, High-Cost patients?
