Healthcare systems today are often overwhelmed with the vast number of technological solutions as well as the sheer amount of data being produced every day. Finding ways to properly leverage both technology and data will be the key to improving patient outcomes.
During a session sponsored by Huron Consulting at Becker's Hospital Review's 13th Annual Meeting, Larry Hanrahan, MD, managing director of clinical transformation, and Deepak Chaudhry, managing director of digital health, both of Huron Consulting, discussed the importance of a comprehensive and disciplined approach to implementing disruptive technologies and better managing data.
Four key takeaways were:
- Although healthcare needs disruption, too many technologies are not ideally implemented and can actually hinder operations. Chaudhry noted that Huron clients "identified seven different areas that lead to mature technology and consumerism." They are: advanced analytics and automation, advanced care facilities, digital apps and tools for consumers (like wearables), digital apps and tools for healthcare workers (like voice recognition), data sharing, cybersecurity, and core technologies and interoperability.
"These disruptive technologies are driving the future of healthcare, but they require a very disciplined approach if we want that new operating model to be sustainable," Dr. Hanrahan said. "We simply cannot have technology for technology's sake; many times we implement technologies that are not fully embraced, sit underutilized and actually disrupt the new operating model. For example, physicians have quickly embraced secured messaging, yet we cannot have them coming back to their inbox at the end of the day to 150 secure messages."
- It's important to remember that digital strategy is only one driver of improved patient outcomes. "Yes, we want to decrease costs, increase the quality of care and improve the patient and physician experience, but I'll submit to you that digital is not the driver, but is only a driver in a portfolio of things that have to be addressed," Dr. Hanrahan said. Other important factors are governance, program management, change management, leadership coaching, and data management and analytics.
- The healthcare ecosystem is rapidly expanding, which means the sheer amount of data can be overwhelming. "We're investing more and more in post-acute venues, which are being enabled by technology as well," Dr. Hanrahan said. "In fact, the patient's home is being enabled with hospital-at-home options, and more patients are also being monitored with their wearables. We have more and more longitudinal tracking of a patient every day, which requires not only an enormous amount of technology to manage but produces an enormous amount of data to understand across the care continuum."
- Huron leverages disruptive technologies and massive data sets to accurately identify at-risk patients for Mon Health. According to Dr. Hanrahan, Huron Consulting established a predictive algorithm for lung cancer, leveraged national claims data and ran patient data through the predictive model to identify at-risk individuals within the Mon Health System network. The system crafted a strategic communications strategy, encouraging patients to screen based on risk levels. As a result, 811 patients who were identified as "at risk" of a lung cancer diagnosis received communications from Mon Health System, responded to communications and were screened. One hundred percent of the 811 were subsequently diagnosed with lung cancer, prompting treatment recommendations by cancer center clinicians. "This is the holy grail of what we're trying to achieve from a population health perspective," Dr. Hanrahan said.
The key takeaways shared by Dr. Hanrahan and Mr. Chaudhry were: 1) invest strategically in digital maturity across the care continuum; 2) focus on areas of need within your community to set your priorities and 3) embrace predictive analytics as a driver of patient experience and care expansion.