Johns Hopkins ACG team releases pharmacy-based predictive model

Sep 11 2006

Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health have developed Johns Hopkins ACG Rx-PM - new predictive modeling software based on retail pharmacy claims information.

ACG Rx-PM can help health plans, state Medicaid agencies and pharmacy benefit managers reduce costs and improve quality by predicting the need for future health care services. The developers see advantages to the new predictive modeling software because pharmacy data is timelier, more complete, and communicates more clinical information than traditional prediction methods, which are based on age, gender and prior cost. ACG Rx-PM also provides accurate forecast support for Medicare Part D pharmacy prescription drug plans.

"Rx-PM is a powerful complement to the ACG System," said Jonathan Weiner, DrPH, co-developer of the original ACG System and leader of the ACG research and development team at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. "It allows us to integrate new data sources into our predictive models for greater statistical performance and more clinical texture. Combining pharmacy-based predictive models with diagnosis-based predictive models will lead to even greater insights into patient quality and population health."

ACG Rx-PM is the latest addition to the suite of ACG Predictive Models developed by the Bloomberg School Public Health. ACG Rx-PM also complements the previously released ACG Dx-PM predictive modeling software based on diagnosis information from medical claims.

The predictive models are all available as part of the ACG System, a multi-capable set of health risk adjustment and high risk case identification software applications. The ACG System provides a means to assess the disease burden of people enrolled in a given health plan or health system. The health plans, in turn, use the ACG System to help stratify their population based on disease risk and to predict the future use of healthcare resources. The ACG System is used throughout the world for a range of applications in population-based health care that range from rate setting, to clinical performance profiling, underwriting and care management.

The ACG System is exclusively distributed in North America by DST Health Solutions, Inc. The ACG System also has distributors in Sweden, Spain and Germany. For more information about the ACG System or about commercial, governmental, or academic licensing.

DST Health Solutions, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of DST Systems, Inc., is the exclusive distributor of the ACG System software. Information about the ACG System is available at www.acg.jhsph.edu and at www.dsthealthsolutions.com.