Ensuring the data is available, accessible, and secure remains the core principle of today’s digital world.
Lindokuhle Buthelezi, Tibco Consultant at TechSoft International
Regardless of the industry sector, size, or geographic location of an organisation, data provides a foundation to drive stakeholder engagement and unlock opportunities for future growth. For companies in the healthcare space, leveraging the existing data real estate to reinvent themselves for this dynamic environment is essential if they are to continue meeting and exceeding customer expectations.
Healthcare businesses are experts at collecting data. The challenge is to convert that information into the insights necessary to drive decision-making. There is no getting around how difficult it has become to deal with poor data quality, inefficient analytic processes, a lack of interoperability, and data being underutilised. For a sector where decisions often mean the difference between life and death, any advantage can be significant. And when it comes to enhancing patient care in a post-pandemic world, becoming a data-driven business is non-negotiable.
Of course, it is easy to collect data. But that does not equate to data-driven healthcare, especially for local organisations looking to differentiate themselves in a rapidly evolving competitive landscape. Using the likes of machine learning and automation technologies can help streamline traditional processes to improve clinical outcomes while making the company more responsive to local needs.
More than that, seven steps can help transform the business into one that prioritises data and harnesses its potential to disrupt the healthcare sector positively.
Eliminate data silos
Addressing the expanding IT environment where systems are often bolted on and therefore lack interoperability is something that virtually every company can cite as a business challenge. This has become a critical concern in healthcare with decades worth of data and system growth.
To conduct effective healthcare analytics requires an interoperable and integrated environment that bridges the gap between legacy and modern systems. The alternative is one where patients’ health is at risk due to a lack of an overall view of their medical history. For this to be overcome, healthcare companies must gather data in a single repository, clean it up, and democratise it to ensure it is made available to the relevant decision-makers across the business.
Assess analytics maturity
Companies looking to grow and benefit from modern data analytical solutions must understand their existing environments. An important question that must be answered is how the healthcare organisation is currently leveraging its data.
This way, it will be able to identify how it can apply data to all aspects of the company, from clinical care to operational management. Through this, the organisation can then turn its focus on innovative practices like personalised medicine and predictive healthcare.
Align business goals with healthcare analytics
Understanding the current environment is one piece of the puzzle. The other is how to align data collection and analysis with the business goals. Companies can start small by initially focusing on analysing a few core systems. Gradually, this can be extended to encompass the entire business.
As the analytical footprint of the organisation matures, it can start using data-driven decisions in all facets of the business. Not only will this change how the company delivers clinical care but also how it engages with all its stakeholders while still reaching business targets.
Governance
South Africa’s dynamic regulatory environment means that healthcare analytics must operate within a highly governed structure. Yes, data democratisation is vital to enable all employees to access it for effective decision-making. But more than that, it is ensuring the data is safeguarded from compromise and used within the parameters of which the organisation has permission for.
To achieve this, a company should consider a process of standardisation. This will help in aligning business, clinical departments, and IT to become more responsible stewards of healthcare analytics.
Single source of truth
Consolidation and integration are common themes when it comes to being data-driven. However, to truly achieve value-based care, the organisation must have standardised healthcare analytics metrics in place that can only come by having a single source of truth in place.
This must pull in data from all possible sources and keep it maintained in a central repository to ensure it can be analysed as quickly and effectively as possible. Once this is in place, the business has the platform on which to transform into becoming truly data-driven.
Create stakeholder-driven applications
A common misconception on this journey is that technology must be the priority. And while the tools used for data integration and analytics are important, businesses must always keep the end user in mind.
The best environment in the world will mean little if employees do not use the systems and processes. And for the patient, if there is no improvement in care, then the entire exercise falls flat. It is therefore vital for companies to put stakeholder-centric solutions in place that will be used across the business and help affect meaningful change.
Democratise the data
Employees need better access to data and to be empowered to draw their own insights from it. Artificial intelligence, automation, and visualisation can help those workers on the ground with the practical means of benefitting from this access to data.
It remains essential to upskill and reskill all employees with the tools, processes, and understanding of how this improved access to data will work to enable them to benefit from it.
Change is constant
Becoming data-driven in healthcare is akin to any digital transformation initiative at organisations across industry sectors – it is not something that is done once and forgotten about. Instead, it is an evolving journey where changing traditional habits are as important as embracing modern, analytical solutions.
Even beyond improving patient care, prioritising data and its analysis can result in improved productivity, increased revenue, and reduced operational costs.
Data-driven healthcare has arrived. The question now turns to whether local healthcare companies are willing to embrace this paradigm shift.