Data Analytics

Why Care Organizations Must Embrace an Analytical Approach

Big Data tools help improve efficiencies and cut costs for providers, hold potential to bolster senior living communities.

Ryan Petersen

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Ryan has been a magazine and newspaper editor for 21 years, with the last 15 covering a variety of bases for CDW’s family of tech magazines. As Editor in Chief, he works on developing editorial strategy and is always on the lookout for new writing talent and sharing great stories with the IT world. In his spare time, Ryan enjoys spending time with his family, biking and obsessively following Iowa Hawkeye sports and Cubs baseball.

Analytics represents a core element of healthcare today. Organizations increasingly collect information on both their processes and patients, which drives decision-making — day in, day out. By harnessing timely and accurate data, providers can save patients’ lives while cutting unnecessary costs.

Take Geisinger Health System, which uses data analytics technology to monitor and analyze sepsis patient outcomes. Doctors at the Danville, Pa.-based organization use that information to improve adherence to correct medical treatment protocols. Researchers anticipate the approach eventually will drive down hospital-acquired sepsis incidents.

Meanwhile, St. Louis-based Mercy uses dashboards customized to service lines to predict patient needs and boost workflow. By reducing or eliminating the use of certain surgical supplies, it saved more than $33 million over three years while updating care practices.

Analytics Gain Importance as Care Strategies Change

Precision medicine efforts, clinical surveillance, administrative automation and revenue cycle management will drive additional growth in data analytics use, Frost & Sullivan predicts. In the United States, its use will grow at a compound annual rate of 15 percent through 2020, according to the research organization.

Optimism for such tools is also present in senior care, where some independent living communities use wearables to track resident activity metrics, then decipher patterns on analytics platforms. Moulay Elalamy, vice president for IT at Waltham, Mass.-based Benchmark Senior Living, which piloted devices at two of its facilities, believes that while organizations have yet to reach a point where data trends can accurately predict adverse health events, the potential exists.

Going forward, a robust data analytics strategy must be a priority for providers that aim to reduce spending and improve efficiencies.

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