While many healthcare organizations have long been on top of collecting patient data, and an increasing number are incorporating effective data sharing programs into their operations, fewer have figured out the best way to put their data to work via effective analytics.
Recently, at the American Hospital Association Executive Forum on Advancing Affordable Health Care, in Chicago, a group of hospital executives gathered to discuss how they are using data analytics to ensure the delivery of high-quality, affordable, equitable care.
For example, at Elgin, Ill.-based Advocate Sherman Hospital, part of the Advocate Health Care system, field advisers share data with physicians and office managers at primary care practices to
highlight one or two opportunities to improve clinical integration targets. “It’s looking at every possible way to be able to share data and make a difference,” Bruce Hyman, M.D., vice president of medical management, explained.
Jean Scallon, CEO at behavioral health-focused Bloomington (Ind.) Meadows Hospital, said her hospital uses genomic testing to ensure that patients are on the right medications. She added that the hospital is also looking to partner with someone to remotely monitor devices worn by children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and depression to allow for care intervention at critical times.
Meanwhile, University Hospital, a Level I trauma center in Newark, N.J., has used data to analyze how its emergency department processes patients, said John Kastanis, president and CEO. “We saw dramatic improvement in the time for patients to see a doctor or get a bed, and made a real dent in the number who left before being seen.”
He added that at his organization, “the beauty of AI is we can take specific electronic health record data and apply [them] to productivity and financial performance and get some quick results.”
At the forum, many participants also noted that they use collected data to drive strategic decisions on the kinds of services they offer and where in the community they provide them.
For example, Andrew Goldfrach, CEO of University Hospital Avon Rehabilitation Hospital in Cleveland, said that his healthcare system is studying where patients are willing to travel for certain services, and what specialties are appropriate by facility for the area’s population.
Similarly, explained University Hospital’s Kastanis, “You need data to know when you don’t have the patient volume to sustain transplants and all the resources required.”
According to participants, one of the biggest challenges in data analytics utilization is changing providers’ mindsets. No matter how accurate the data on outcomes or local benchmarks or national trends they are shown, noted Andrew Goldfrach, “Some providers, who have been doing their role for years and years in a certain way, are not necessarily willing to change their thought process” on applying data.
Naturally, healthcare organizations stand at different points in their transformation to a data-driven care delivery model and culture. While they’ve encountered challenges in accessing and understanding data, they’ve also found ways to use Business Intelligence or AI to improve operations and outcomes.
As the participants in the AHA’s data analytics panel discussion see it, now is the perfect time to start having a conversation about analytics strategy — or better yet, begin documenting a formal strategy and plan.