From Analytics to Action – Part I
As healthcare organizations shift to a value-based care approach, more clinicians, physicians, and nurses can expect to be armed with easy-to-use, self-service analytics.
The common denominator promises to be enormous amounts of data. But simply gathering data makes up only half of the equation. The other half requires careful analytics, performing quality evaluation and interpretation of that data, to drive key decisions across the organization.
Progressive change in healthcare will include moving toward this heavily data-driven decision-making process. This is where we see the role of data analytics come into play. But this is not only limited to the point of care. Another major impact of data analytics we can see happening is the change in the current C-suite structure in provider organizations.
With the shift from a fee-for-service model to a value-based model, hospitals consolidate and form larger systems, making hospitals no longer the focal point of streamlining operations. As such, senior management will need to possess the skills of a thought-leader and data-driven decision maker moving forward.
That means that while organizations have access to data, the next most important step is to read this data, analyze it, and then define metrics and strategies to drive better quality of care and patient outcomes. In other words, leaders should be able to translate these analytics into action. Also, expect more physicians and clinicians to move up to C-suite roles, based on their experience and ability to understand and analyze data as a means to provide quality care, as required by the Affordable Care Act.
By utilizing the power of data analytics and innovative technologies, larger health care organizations are adapting to bring technologies to the targeted population around them, rather than driving patients into hospitals. Leaders in this approach, marked by implementing population health management initiatives, include Kaiser Permanente and the establishment of virtual hospitals that is being done at Intermountain Healthcare.
PLSG remains plugged into these data analytics trends as part of our mission. In Part II of this series, we will examine some of the new C-suite roles being created to accommodate the rise in data analytics in health care.
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