I recently read that 78% of patients believe EHRs boost care. What was my reaction to this news? I immediately thought, “Just wait until patients see what all of the technologies that EHRs enable can do.”
Business intelligence is a perfect example. Data warehouses and data analytics provide physicians with the tools and technologies they need to enable a remarkable level of care. Coupled with online portal technology, today’s healthcare consumer is accustomed to interacting with the data provided to them in other industries, and healthcare is no exception. Having access to this data, and the better clinical results it provides, has increased patient satisfaction as well. As mentioned by Dr. Paul Grundy, Global Director of Healthcare Transformation for IBM, when patients can access their data through portals and electronic communication, there satisfaction rises “from the 10%s into the 80%’s and 90%s”.
Patients have found numerous benefits to this smart use of medical record data. Two key drivers include:
Increased Quality: By increasing the quality of patient data you increase the quality of care. Data warehouses and data analytics provide insight into otherwise unwieldy patterns found in data. Making sense of these data patterns will enable providers to make better quality decisions as a result.
Creation of Value: Analytics have already shown significant results in the healthcare industry in the form of smarter supply chains and enterprise resource planning, which result in cost savings that can be passed along to the consumer of healthcare services. However, the most significant results will be found when analytics enable cost savings in the clinical setting as well.
Earlier this month, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer commented on a grandmother who was enabled to pursue treatment for her yet-to-be-born grandchild from the cardiac unit at Texas Children’s Hospital as a result of hospital communication and a BI platform we supported. I encourage you to read our previous post “Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer on Positive Outcomes from #HealthIT” to experience this amazing story in full detail. It is just one incredible example of how harnessing the power of data enables a level of care unimaginable even a decade ago. When healthcare organizations incorporate business intelligence capabilities into the practice of medicine, their patients will thank them.
