In recent years, the digitization of healthcare has increased the role of analytics and data.
With this movement, fully understanding and leveraging data has become a fundamental practice in all industries. This is necessary for strong decision-making—and the healthcare industry is no exception. Whether clinicians are assessing the needs of individual patients or considering changes to the entire health system, high-level decisions are made on the basis of data.
With analytics, decisions can be made faster and smarter. This presents an opportunity for healthcare leaders and organizations to find greater alignment on priorities, resources and outcomes.
Using data analytics as a tool to better serve patients
On a macro level, healthcare data has become more complex. Understanding how patients in the community interact and engage with the right connectivity systems is critical. When considering how best to use data analytics to optimize patient services, it is important to consider how the data landscape is evolving.
Specifically, in pediatrics, there is a healthy conversation around privacy and access. In the short term, there are many skills in the data world that need to be unearthed. We’re learning which information is most important to delivering high-quality care—the more we refine this approach, the more we can focus on the information with the greatest impact.
All of these are critical when trying to optimize the patient experience. Analytics provide insights into patient interactions with clinic or hospital physicians. This enables organizations to understand the positive and negative experiences of individual patients and families to enhance care and identify areas that require additional attention or improvement.
Data also allows patients to be more directly involved in their care. Patients are responsible for their own health.
The use of remote apps or virtual appointments through telemedicine enables patients to determine their needs by tracking, monitoring and uploading information. For example, in diabetes care, patients can use technologies such as continuous glucose monitors to upload data directly to a portal or EMR. This gives providers insight into which patients need additional support and which educational resources are most effective, leading to healthier outcomes.
The height of precision health is enhanced decision making
Healthcare often relies on personal experience, and due to its high-touch nature and intimacy, outdated approaches to data management ensue. This needs to change rapidly as the amount of information flowing into the organization reaches a near-overwhelming level.
Healthcare is starting to catch up, but in 2022, we’re at a critical juncture and the goal of the game is simplicity. Simplicity leads to more actionable insights. With actionable insights, care can be improved. This will allow the industry to provide data-driven decision-making rather than a combination of data and experience. This is called augmented decision-making, and it’s something the industry is focusing on this year.
While augmented decision-making is becoming increasingly difficult at the pediatric level—as many pediatric and adolescent patients requiring hospitalization have complex care needs—it has proven to be a key element of the anytime, anywhere care model. For example, throughout the pandemic, analytics enables organizations to assess more vulnerable patient populations and assess equitable distribution of Covid-19 vaccines. For organizations leveraging these tools, it helps prioritize outreach efforts and targeted interventions for specific geographic areas, and mobilize appropriate resources.
Set Organizational Priority
Improving patient service involves more than just direct care and requires strong organizational guidance. Analytics can be a powerful tool to help set this direction and adjust priorities.
For example, understanding patient outcomes and experiences can help organizations make continuous improvements, ensure equity among patient groups and highlight the most vulnerable. This allows organizations to focus on meeting the needs of those vulnerable patients. Big data, powered by the right analytical tools, has shown the potential to better address health care inequalities in communities.
Organizations must use these tools to better understand and assess the social determinants of patient population health, from housing to education and other economic conditions. Additionally, improved patient accessibility facilitates more frequent data collection at the patient level.
In addition to the typical information you gather when you see a doctor, there are several factors that can help you understand social conditions. We must focus on identifying these dynamics that ultimately impact patient care and lead to different interventions.
move forward
Excitingly, we are already seeing analytics increase the value of healthcare data. Because of this, we can now turn to models that leverage data to influence critical thinking and give healthcare organizations a better understanding of trends affecting care.
Today, analytics has a broader function throughout the care process. Healthcare entities can use analytics to stay agile while ensuring operational processes, patient experience and clinical outcomes are aligned with organizational priorities.
By getting the data and analytics parts of the equation right, organizations will discover their ability to deliver a continuum of care and chart a path forward to fill current or emerging care gaps.
Photo: tonefotografia, Getty Images
