In today's complex healthcare landscape, organizations are facing challenges in reducing costs, improving patient care and remaining compliant.
As technology advances and healthcare environments become more complex, however, care management remains a critical priority. Medical professionals, already strapped for time and resources, need to be able to quickly determine and prioritize high risk patients and administer the appropriate treatment.
The market for global big data in healthcare is expected to reach $35 billion by 2021. While the vast amount of data alone can be daunting for healthcare organizations, it's also incredibly valuable for improving care and cutting costs for both healthcare organizations and patients. It's critical that healthcare providers and partners tackle complex data challenges head-on to stay ahead of the curve and ensure better experiences for patients and medical professionals.
Fortunately, as the amount of data continues to increase, technology has also been keeping pace to help healthcare professionals overcome data complexity. This complexity refers to both the large amounts of data healthcare organizations deal with, and the multiple channels where data is being sourced. Healthcare professionals have to consider patient medical history, insurance information, financials, medications and Electronic Health Records (EHRs). On top of these more traditional channels, today many medical professionals are also starting to consider data from personal health and fitness apps and wearables, such as MyFitnessPal, RunKeeper, FitBit, etc., which adds a whole new level of data to analyze. To provide a holistic view of each patient, many organizations are relying on Business Intelligence (BI) platforms to collect, analyze and visualize complex data.
Simplifying Complex Data
For BI technology to best serve healthcare, it needs to be accessible to all medical professionals, giving anyone from doctors, nurses and care managers, to receptionists and insurance providers, the power to make data-driven decisions in real time. Additionally, with the rising costs of healthcare, it's especially important for smaller organizations to cut costs. To accomplish both of these -- accessibility for all users and reducing costs -- healthcare organizations are looking to simplify analytics for complex data, by removing IT complexity.
By alleviating the IT burden stemming from data collection, analysis and reporting, organizations are driving more agility and speed, which is critical in a medical environment, where the difference that's created by access to accurate data and quick decisions could have incredible impact on a person's health.
When healthcare's complex data is simplified, all users can have access to powerful business analytics. Armed with a holistic view of all data pertaining to patients, doctors can easily identify and care for patients in order of risk factors and medical needs. Data-driven care management automatically identifies the most high-risk patients to see first – based on diagnoses, historical care patterns, dietary needs, etc. -- preventing hospitalizations and reducing overall cost of care.
Many organizations, including Georgia-based Union General Hospital, are also using sophisticated BI to analyze patient data over time to improve care management. For one project, Union General's is using business intelligence and data analytics to examine variables in 30-day patient readmissions, to reduce readmissions and improve patient outcomes.
Embedded Analytics in the Physical World
With the pace of mobile and wearable technologies saturating healthcare environments, healthcare workers are increasingly looking to leverage smart technologies to access business analytics wherever they go, and however they prefer to engage with their data. This isn't just about pulling up dashboards and patient charts on tablets, but also about the way they consume medical data from these devices. Imagine a doctor performing an emergency procedure on a new patient, and while he's working, he's able to talk to his smartwatch or a nearby connected device, and ask it questions about the patient's medical history -- blood type, allergies, recent health episodes, etc. As the doctor asks questions, the devices -- enabled by AI technologies such as Amazon's Alexa -- could respond to the doctor with real-time insights on the medical procedure and patient history.
This type of conversational data consumption could ensure that, even as the doctor has to act fast to save the patient, he has access to critical medical information to ensure the patient isn't given a pain medication that could cause complications, for example. Embedded analytics in the physical world, through mobile, wearable and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies all around us, could revolutionize the current healthcare system.
Today's healthcare organizations are armed with more data than ever to improve patient care and outcomes, but the amount of data can be daunting and present challenges. Leveraging technology to make data more accessible in healthcare environments can lead to faster, more accurate decisions that impact costs and care. As technology continues to evolve, companies deploying data-driven strategies and adopting new ways to consume medical data will be at the forefront of the IoT-enabled healthcare revolution.
Guy Levy-Yurista, Head of Product at Sisense
The views, opinions and positions expressed within these guest posts are those of the author alone and do not represent those of Becker's Hospital Review/Becker's Healthcare. The accuracy, completeness and validity of any statements made within this article are not guaranteed. We accept no liability for any errors, omissions or representations. The copyright of this content belongs to the author and any liability with regards to infringement of intellectual property rights remains with them.