Research for Frost & Sullivan shows only 10% of hospitals used health analytics tools in 2011. They further predict this to follow the increased investment in EHR technology to 50% by 2016. This is fueled by programs such as the HITECH Act where analytics are needed to justify and qualify for payments.
My recent blog describing the BI Maturity Model is a good starting point to help more healthcare providers understand the value proposition as well as a way to embrace analytics in ways that encourage change and justify costs. Current investment in EHR technologies is creating the foundation for giant strides in analytics. Once this data is captured, it can be used to improve performance, reduce errors, predict events, and make patients healthier.
This will only work if the data collected is actionable and accurate. Care providers should take the time to learn the new EHR system and strive to make the data captured as accurate as possible. They should add details as much as possible in order to develop a rich, useful database that can feed multiple dimensions for future analytics.
This is great news for the BI community. Healthcare BI growth from 10% to 50% over the next 4 years is encouraging and exciting. Start learning now, so you are ready.
Learn more about the role of BI in healthcare at my webinar, “An Introduction to Business Intelligence for Healthcare” on August 30th.
