Available in July 2025, SAS Health Cost of Care Analytics taps into health claims data and enables healthcare organisations to construct and analyse claims as episodes of care by stitching together codes and patterns all along a‘ care journey’ from detection to treatment to care management. The healthcare analytics solution built on the data and AI platform SAS Viya can enable more cost-effective treatment pathways, reduce unwarranted admissions, decrease the length of hospital stays, and more.

SAS will introduce SAS Health Cost of Care Analytics and other data and analytic solutions for healthcare payers and the industry at AHIP 2025 in Las Vegas.

Per Gartner,“ Payers increasingly need sophisticated data and analytics to achieve outcomes such as identifying rising risk populations, improving quality measure performance, managing the total cost of care and personalising experiences.”

SAS Health Cost of Care Analytics supports the industry with unique features that include:

Flexible definitions for episodes of care. Users can analyse claims as episodes of care using transparent clinical definitions of their choice and detect associations for a holistic patient view.

Value and care outcome measurement. The solution categorises services and their care costs as being value-added or potentially avoidable. Additionally, expected and risk-adjusted costs are automatically calculated and can then be used as quality / efficiency measures or payment metrics. Other quality metrics, such as length of stay, are also captured.

Risk-based calculations to compare provider performance. Using medical claim data and applying user-selected rules, the solution attributes episodes of care to providers, facilitating the measurement of cost and quality of care relative to patient severity or to set reimbursement targets.

Analytic insights with simplified data management. The product supports data validation and simplified data ingestion into the SAS Health common data model to create data repositories.

“ As healthcare incentives focus in on value, providers and payers must identify the drivers of cost, quality and outcomes to make decisions about protocols and provider contracts,” said Brett Davis, Senior Manager, Healthcare Advisory at SAS.“ Going far beyond traditional claims grouping, SAS Health Cost of Care Analytics generates valuable insights to identify variations and opportunities for improvement when assessing financial risk, all while understanding members in more detail.” �

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