Why Healthcare Analytics Companies Are the Latest MVPs for Hospitals

A robust healthcare analytics operation is no longer optional for medical institutions. Amidst mounting demands on hospital resources and rising healthcare costs, quick and high-value patient care delivery has become even more imperative. As such, many health systems harness healthcare data analytics and have come to rely on healthcare analytics companies with the goal of success for the organization and the patients within their care.

This article delves into why analytical tools in healthcare have become indispensable for today’s health system and hospital operations, exploring their impact on cost reduction and quality improvement.

Why Healthcare Analytics Are Important

Gone are the days when healthcare executives and providers base decisions on intuition and experience alone; today, healthcare institutions are leveraging the power of analytics to drive every aspect of operation, from clinical care at the patient bedside to medical research to population health data reporting. Meanwhile, healthcare analytics are commonly used for the following purposes in medical settings:

1. Drives decision-making in healthcare. Healthcare analytics is crucial in hospitals and health systems as it provides valuable data on patient care, effectiveness, and finances. Through advanced data analysis, healthcare providers can identify trends, patterns, and potential areas for improvement in patient outcomes. This enables health systems to make data-driven decisions that lead to better patient care and more effective resource allocation.

2. Improves processes and workflows. Healthcare analytics can reduce costs and improve operations by identifying bottlenecks and inefficiencies in processes and workflows. Hospitals can find areas with untapped resources or potential cost savings by analyzing extensive data. This data-intensive approach benefits hospitals’ bottom line and allows for more efficient allocation of resources at a time when budgets are tight.

3. Informs population health strategies and patient safety. Healthcare analytics are essential for predicting and preventing problems like communicable diseases, infections, or medication mistakes in hospitals. Hospitals can proactively identify at-risk patients and take preventative measures to avoid adverse outcomes by analyzing historical data and leveraging predictive modeling techniques. This deep analysis improves patient safety and contributes to overall quality improvement efforts within the healthcare organization.

Healthcare Analytics Defined

Health systems and hospitals use healthcare analytics to analyze and interpret complex healthcare data to improve patient care, operations, and resource allocation. Healthcare analytics in hospitals involves gathering and studying data from various sources. These sources include electronic health records, billing systems, and patient feedback.

The purpose is to identify trends, patterns, and improvement opportunities and meet state and federal reporting mandates. Hospitals can also gain valuable insights into patient health outcomes, clinical performance, disease management, and population health by utilizing advanced analytical tools and techniques.

Hospitals can use data to make decisions based on evidence in all areas of their operations. For instance, healthcare leaders can identify opportunities to optimize workflow processes, reduce readmission rates, manage chronic diseases more effectively, and enhance the quality of care spanning multiple facilities.

Indeed, health systems are increasingly using healthcare analytics for numerous purposes. They are doing this to meet their community’s needs and control costs. This is happening in a rapidly changing healthcare landscape that is increasingly focused on value-based care and population health management.

Therefore, hospitals can improve care and finances using a strong analytics strategy to enhance outcomes and streamline tasks.

The State of Healthcare Analytics Explained

While most health systems have invested heavily in their analytics operation in terms of time and finances, many aren’t getting the return on investment (ROI) they need for success. The success of any healthcare analytics program, just like any business, hinges on factors such as patient satisfaction, profitability, return on investment, and prospects for growth.

As a department, data analytics teams find it challenging to support the needs within their organization, given the increasing demands on information technology (IT) departments in health systems. In today’s landscape, many healthcare analytics companies function as third-party providers, whether within an Accountable Care Organization (ACO), Clinically Integrated Network (CIN), or through a fee-for-value arrangement with a large employer group.

Within the healthcare system, product offerings and care options involve contracting with other providers and hospitals to ensure necessary network coverage. To that end, as the overseer of the ACO or CIN, the health system is responsible for consolidating data from diverse systems, such as EMRs utilized by affiliated physicians and third-party claims payers. Analytic teams are then tasked with delivering services for these third parties while meeting their organization’s information technology and reporting demands.

Effectively managing a healthcare solutions operation requires comprehending the distinct requirements of each analytics customer, establishing a roadmap for success, gauging the operation’s success, and consistently communicating those metrics to hospital leadership. Undertaking these steps enables healthcare analytics companies to ensure they are delivering on their promises, enhancing healthcare solutions, solving clients’ problems, and positively influencing patient lives.

Can Healthcare Analytics Solve Industry’s Financial Challenges?

Health systems face mounting pressures to deliver high-quality care while keeping costs reasonable. This layer of complexity contributes to rising healthcare expenditures in the United States, which recently reached $4.1 trillion, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

Payers and providers have begun to look for more opportunities to reduce costs. Other challenges faced in healthcare organizations include data silos, interoperability issues, information overload, and regulatory compliance, further compounding the difficulties of delivering high-value patient care.

Analysts project that the financial toll of uncoordinated care that neglects patient priorities is projected to exceed $27.2 billion. A key contributor to this squandering of healthcare funds is the insufficient utilization of data to comprehend patient needs—a crucial element for delivering patient-centered, value-based care (VBC).

Harnessing Healthcare Analytics Companies to Deliver Value-Based Care

To align with financial benchmarks, health systems have begun employing data analytics strategies to emphasize patient-centric approaches for improved outcomes:

• Prioritizing patient outreach based on risk levels.
• Utilizing data tools to address the challenges posed by COVID-19.
• Fostering data literacy among healthcare professionals.

Utilizing healthcare data analytic insights to understand a patient’s health requires health systems to deliver quality care that aligns with the rigorous standards of VBC.

Analytics plays a crucial role in VBC by preventing care teams from inefficiently allocating resources or neglecting patient concerns. Incorporating detailed information from extensive datasets elevates patient needs and shapes care interventions.

Whether health systems are addressing populations dealing with chronic diseases like Type II diabetes or navigating the challenges of communicable diseases like COVID-19, they must prioritize healthcare data management in the care delivery process and equip providers and administrators alike with the necessary tools to consistently provide sustainable VBC.

Leveraging Advanced Tools from Healthcare Analytics Companies

Fortunately, leveraging data and analytics allows hospitals to succeed on various metrics: care quality, regulatory standards, financial stability, and community impact.

By deploying advanced analytical tools and methodologies and establishing a robust data platform, healthcare analytics companies can assist hospitals in streamlining operations, anticipating patient trends, optimizing treatment protocols, improving financial performance, and ultimately transforming raw data into meaningful business intelligence.

This, in turn, helps facilitate more informed decision-making across all levels of the organization and produces better and safer operations for healthcare organizations and their patient populations.

Additional Reading

Would you like to learn more about this topic? Here are three articles we suggest:

The Six Biggest Problems With Homegrown Healthcare Analytics Platform

Three Analytics Strategies to Drive Patient-Centered Care

How to Run Your Healthcare Analytics Operation Like a Business