Healthcare organizations are awash in data. But not every health system is able to utilize its data in ways that yield actionable insights or opportunities for performance improvement. Without a clear data plan and a standards-based approach to technology, it can be difficult for hospitals and health systems to generate value from their information assets.
To learn more about these data-related challenges and how healthcare leaders can overcome them, Becker's Healthcare recently spoke with Mike O'Neill, CEO of MedicaSoft.
Enterprise data architecture enables healthcare organizations to leverage data fully
Organizations that are successful in using data have a plan for handling information across the enterprise — an enterprise data architecture, which includes a plan for organizing data, a model for representing data, data governance policies and more.
"A data architecture can be formal or informal," Mr. O'Neill said. "It provides a framework for organizing information so that individual projects can share access to the same data. When new data sources come along, such as Social Determinants of Health data, a good architecture has the flexibility to handle it without losing efficiency."
The intended use of the data directly influences its organization. If a health system uses data primarily for care delivery, organizing the information as longitudinal patient records is most efficient. On the other hand, if an organization wants to leverage reporting, analytics, machine learning or AI, organizing the data in a data warehouse best serves those goals. An effective enterprise data architecture supports flexibility in data organization to support multiple use cases.
"When a health system struggles, especially with siloed data, it's often because they don't have a plan or data architecture," Mr. O'Neill said. "When a use case presents itself, such as improving clinical care or creating analytics, locating and organizing the necessary data becomes a roadblock and can even prevent the use case from being met at all."
The good news: Organizations don't need to stop all work to create an enterprise data architecture. "Health systems can and should work incrementally," Mr. O'Neill said. "When an opportunity presents itself, by all means address it as fast as you can. But build things that will be reusable, based on an overall architecture. In that way, the next time an opportunity arises, you can build off what you've already created."
Organizational data guidelines can ease concerns about layering technology onto the EHR
Healthcare leaders are often hesitant to invest in solutions that layer technology on top of the EHR system. EHR data is the source of truth for patient care and may be considered the official patient record from a legal perspective, and there are concerns about creating privacy or cybersecurity vulnerabilities related to patient records.
"The hesitancy about allowing broader use of EHR data is understandable, but it can be addressed," Mr. O'Neill said. "Clear data governance and data use policies can provide the necessary controls so that EHR data is effectively used as the legal patient record for care delivery but can also be safely made available for other appropriate use cases. With clear guidelines in place, it's easier to address concerns related to privacy, security and the integrity of the patient record."
Standards are a good way to identify the best technology solutions
Standards like Health Level Seven International (HL7) Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) can help healthcare leaders navigate the crowded technology environment and identify solutions that will be the best fit for their organizations. The key to success is applying standards in a practical way when building systems.
"Using FHIR doesn't automatically make any technology interoperable with any other," Mr. O'Neill said. "But a standard like FHIR, when used appropriately, allows organizations to model their data in a common format. This enables them to share data with other technology solutions."
The healthcare sector is finally reaching a point where interoperability and data exchange are possible, thanks to technology advances, data standards, and frameworks like the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement that have been under development for several years.
"We are finding that data is more available, liquid, accessible and usable for solving healthcare problems," Mr. O'Neill said. "But we are still in the very early days of the application of technology to healthcare data. Companies like MedicaSoft enjoy working on challenging problems like this. We can finally bring technology that has helped advance other industries to bear in healthcare. That's an exciting opportunity."