By Mike Miranda, Rocket Software
Twitter: @Rocket
The healthcare system is taking full advantage of Business Intelligence tools, such as Data Discovery Software. This newer generation of BI tools is dramatically empowering healthcare facilities around the world to aggressively forge ahead with ultra-enhanced efficiency and performance at macro and micro-levels, alike. From inventorying medical supplies to enhanced quality of patient care to proactively addressing governmental compliance demands, Data Discovery tools are embraced for the capacity to offer new and exciting methodologies and approaches concerning healthcare informatics, across the board.
In every highly-industrialized nation in the world, the healthcare arena is bombarded with financial pressures and mandates; and those demands are not slowing down anytime soon. Through the use of Data Discovery Tools, healthcare systems can capitalize on all the benefits that are realized due to performance levels that can, now, attain full potential. Interfaced data preparation tools help the end user in many ways. Intuitive graphical user interfaces give the user the ability to utilize embedded intelligence which aids in automating common data prep tasks, collaboration and training features like online content, alerts, a user community and direct access to experts in the field. A point-and-click configuration allows the user to join, format, sort and calculate data without any coding needed thereby letting them to move quickly without the assistance of the IT team. Visual data flows enable the user to create and view the data output simplifying navigation and increasing productivity. A zoom and pan function help user’s isolate sections of data so that analysis and edits can be made quickly and easily. Data lineage makes it possible for the business user to trace the origins of any data element through the entire assembly process and a preview pane shows data generated in each step of the data flow helping the user figure out whether or not each step is generating the correct data output. Not all discovery solutions will have the same tools but it’s something you definitely want to look for.
Let’s look as just a few examples of how Data Discovery Tools impact the health-care arena.
Establish Uniformity and Cohesiveness
Managing exorbitant mounds of medical information is an overwhelming and time-intensive undertaking, to say the least. Patient records, coding, claims, equipment and drug inventories represent a fraction of data that must be meticulously organized, managed and continuously updated. Data Discovery Tools streamline the entire spectrum of needs. Operational success is maximized through the use of a strategically-located, centralized repository where medical information can be harvested by any authorized user at anytime, from anywhere. Medical personnel have the ability to view, consolidate, coordinate, retrieve, and collaborate everything from projecting the number of incoming ER patients on a given day to sharing a panoramic view of one or multiple patients, with colleagues.
As a result, uniformity and cohesiveness incorporated into healthcare logistics, via Data Discovery Tools, provide enriched patient-care, huge cost savings, consistently-satisfied financial goals, and automated compliance mandates. Reliability, cohesiveness and extreme efficiency become the expected standard of excellence.
And regarding regulatory requirements—new governmental protocols are stipulated in Obamacare; but Data Discovery Tools take the hassle and stress out of the equation. Simplicity becomes the name of the game. Let’s take, for example, the fact that hospitals face penalization when patients are readmitted within 30 days of the last admittance date. This is called the Hospital Readmission Reduction Program; and can serve as a financial challenge. With Data Discovery Software, however, required compliance takes on a whole new dimension where simplicity reigns supreme. BI dashboards can project the financial and operational effects of Obamacare mandates; and as a result, appropriate actions can be implemented with swiftness and thoroughness to ensure necessary conformity. Additionally, medical settings can guarantee themselves needed funding for Medicare and Medicaid by fully and proactively adhering to government directives.
Elevate Patient Care
Hospital care embraces a vast array of patient-related components; and striving to elevate patient satisfaction is an on-going effort. Every-day situations, as mundane as staff-response time, can be monitored and evaluated to provide a higher-quality of care and patient satisfaction. When a patient presses a bedside alert button, that request is automatically documented as well as the care-giver’s response time. Once a certain amount of that data is analyzed, something as simple as average response time can be calculated and determined as the standard for adherence.
Emergency wait times are notoriously branded as excruciatingly lengthy; but Data Discovery Software plays a significant role with minimizing the hours it can take before even being seen by a doctor. A mathematical model takes into account the number of on-site medical personnel, the number of waiting patients, and other variables. Data Discovery Tools can project emergency wait times; and in the end, patients can enjoy shorter wait periods; and customer satisfaction is enhanced.
Project Patient Needs
Long-term trends can become predictably accurate since Data Discovery Tools can indicate what is to come, based on past experiences of a particular facility. Take, for example, a health facility where Data Discovery Software indicates that during the last four years no less than 15 individuals had been admitted with alcohol poisoning on the evening of the last day of the year. This trend would serve as a preparedness indicator that would signify a call-to-action for the facility to be readied with equipment, supplies and the needed number of personnel during certain hours of a particular day.
Eliminate Excess Expenses
Unnecessary costs associated with the myriad of logistics involved with running a medical facility can be staggering and mind-boggling; but eliminating them doesn’t have to be. BI software can significantly shave surplus costs at every level of hospital operation and maintenance. Determining how beds are being occupied, how drug and equipment inventories are being consumed, how to more-effectively treat patients who require high-cost treatment, and which medical interventions are the most cost-effective can, all, be assessed with extreme accuracy. It all equates to monumental savings.
Also, repeated and unnecessary patient admissions can be effectively tracked and addressed to ensure compliance with government programs. Tracking workflow can create a very streamlined scenario where, for example, medication storage and usage, via Data Discovery Software, can eliminate countless hours of office paperwork. Time-intensive paperwork can be replaced by Wi-Fi enabled devices that provide real-time updates to anyone, anywhere, at anytime.
With Data Discovery Tools, saving time and saving money play monumental roles with impressively enhancing all operational facets of medical facilities all over the world. Costs are minimized, compliance is ensured, efficiency is maximized and patient-care and satisfaction are optimized—everyone wins!