Vizient Showcases Vizient Vulnerability Index™ on Capitol Hill

IRVING, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Yesterday, Vizient, Inc. participated in the Healthcare Innovation Expo on Capitol Hill, hosted by the Healthcare Leadership Council (HLC) in collaboration with the Health Care Innovation Caucus. During the event, Vizient showcased the patent pending Vizient^® Vulnerability Index™, which is now publicly available, to more than forty lawmakers and congressional staff, demonstrating how it helps providers gain actionable insights into their community’s social needs to target interventions and improve care delivery.

"Hyperlocal social needs data is crucial for healthcare providers, in addition to federal, state, and local governments, to inform effective allocation of limited resources to enhance community health,” said Heather Blonsky, lead data scientist at Vizient. "Public access to the Vizient Vulnerability Index enables providers and policymakers to understand and begin transforming the health of their communities before a patient walks through the door.”

At the expo, Vizient experts provided interactive maps and showed how the Vizient Vulnerability Index aggregates 43 social determinants of health data points across nine categories, affecting outcomes like chronic disease prevalence and hospital readmissions at local, regional, and national levels. Vizient staff also offered personalized demonstrations to help policymakers gain a hyperlocal understanding of the factors affecting the health of people living in their district.

Additionally, Vizient experts reiterated that unlike other neighborhood-level indices, the Vizient Vulnerability Index flexes to ensure the index values are location-appropriate. Other indices, such as the Area Deprivation Index (ADI), have a single index algorithm for the whole country, while the Vizient Vulnerability Index adapts to the local relevance of each domain as it correlates to life expectancy. Vizient highlighted the importance of utilizing the more comprehensive Vizient Vulnerability Index to develop models and payment incentives for care in identified vulnerable areas, consistent with previous suggestions.

Members of Congress and their staff valued the firsthand demonstration of Vizient’s tool, recognizing its effectiveness in using data to improve community health.

Learn more about the Vizient Vulnerability Index.

About Vizient, Inc.

Vizient, Inc., the nation’s largest provider-driven healthcare performance improvement company, serves more than 65% of the nation’s acute care providers, which includes 97% of the nation’s academic medical centers, and more than 35% of the non-acute market. Vizient provides expertise, analytics and consulting services, as well as a contract portfolio that represents $140 billion in annual purchasing volume. Solutions and services from Vizient improve the delivery of high-value care by aligning cost, quality and market performance. Headquartered in Irving, Texas, Vizient has offices throughout the United States. Learn more at www.vizientinc.com.