Health Dialog was created to help improve the state of the healthcare system – a system that today is facing double-digit cost increases and significant quality issues. Through our sophisticated analytics, which are grounded in academic research, and our personalized Health Coaching resources, Health Dialog can address the issues facing the healthcare industry today. We are able to identify opportunities for improvement within a population and deliver programs that help individuals better understand their medical issues and become more engaged in managing their healthcare with their physicians. By identifying and addressing these issues, Health Dialog is able to improve healthcare quality and satisfaction while reducing overall costs to the system.

Health Dialog’s analytic solutions are built upon the research of Drs. John and David Wennberg and their colleagues to identify and address unwarranted variation in healthcare – the widespread overuse, underuse, and misuse of healthcare services. Unwarranted variation is one of healthcare’s principle cost and quality drivers. Understanding unwarranted variation and its drivers can help to achieve the “right rate” of care for a population, and thereby minimize the widely varying rates of treatments and hospitalizations across the United States. Research suggests that approximately 30 percent of medical costs can be attributed to unwarranted variation in healthcare¹. Health Dialog has developed an innovative approach to applying the unwarranted variation research to the current healthcare environment to improve quality of healthcare and reduce medical cost trend.

In an increasingly consumer directed healthcare environment, it is critical that individuals have the information and support they need to become more involved in their healthcare. Health Dialog is built upon the idea that when individuals are more actively engaged in managing their care with their physicians, they are more satisfied with their care, quality goes up, and costs go down. This concept is what we call Shared Decision-Making and is an approach based on the work of the Foundation for Informed Medical Decision Making, a not-for-profit entity co-founded by Drs. John Wennberg and Albert Mulley. To help engage individuals in their healthcare, Health Dialog provides them with unbiased medical information, teaches them how to prepare for physician visits, and helps them to consider their personal values and preferences in making medical decisions.