The challenge of making data-driven business decisions is an all-too-familiar task for organizations that deal with data fragmentation. Many times, this challenge is addressed with a traditional data warehouse, even with its limitations. However, to get a full view of healthcare business’ health, a combination of clinical, financial, and operational data must be evaluated and utilized — and that can be a daunting task for some.
Mired in a Data Overload
Today, technology vendors crowd the healthcare landscape, all promising to solve niche clinical, financial, or operational problems. Yet, that presents problems for healthcare organizations because they must now manage a mix of systems that vary in age, capabilities, and interoperability. Furthermore, many leaders are tasked with making sense of the vast amounts of data that these systems capture and provide.
These factors limit the healthcare leader’s ability to understand and act on opportunities to improve the business — especially, if they’re the only ones with access to the data. This focus can prevent even the most robust enterprise analytics software from fully benefiting an organization.
Making Data Meaningful
Modern business analytics software should enhance the value of data in two ways. The first is that data should be available in real-time, allowing for immediate decisions to be made. The second is that the data should be personalized for the user viewing it, whether they are a CFO or a radiologist; it will only present information that matters to each user, even if derived from sourced from the same datasets.
Bringing data together is not the only significant challenge. As the saying goes, you cannot manage what you cannot measure. Healthcare leaders and their staff must be able to compare and combine complementary clinical, operational, and financial data from disparate systems to create a holistic view of their overall business — i.e., evaluating just one of those data sets will only partially inform a business decision.
Finding the Ideal Solution
Aggregating clinical, financial, and operational information from multiple unrelated data sources is far from a trivial task. The ideal solution should integrate data from these disparate sources and allow users to view information that matters to them. They can compare historical trends with real-time information, or forecast future needs. By giving all users access to meaningful data, staff across the organization are empowered to act on opportunities that improve their business, leading to incremental changes that reduce operational costs, enhance workflow efficiencies, and increase revenue.
HealthLevel is the creator of Foundations™, a radiology business operations platform. By combining financial, clinical, and operational data, it uses analytics to paint a complete picture of a business’s operations. It engages every team member to confidently take actions that improve productivity and increase the bottom line. Learn more.
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