Electronic Health Reporter

Sage Growth Partners (SGP) recently announced survey findings on how clinical surveillance is prioritized and managed by healthcare delivery organizations. The survey of healthcare executives from hospitals across the U.S. was commissioned by VigiLanz, a clinical surveillance company, to assess their progress in the journey to higher value care and how they are using data analytics, EMRs and clinical surveillance tools to support their efforts.

The full report is available here. Key findings include:

Majority are using a clinical surveillance solution and see it as important to their organization

• Most hospitals (96 percent) are using some sort of clinical surveillance solution, whether from a third-party, built in-house, or as part of their EMR. Four percent do not perform any kind of clinical surveillance.
• The majority (88 percent) say clinical surveillance is extremely, very, or moderately important to their organization. Nine percent said it’s only slightly important, and 3 percent said it was not important at all or they did not know its importance.
• Respondents identified the top five ways clinical surveillance can be most helpful today as: (No. 1) identifying adverse drug events, (No. 2) advancing antimicrobial stewardship initiatives, (No. 3) patient safety alerts, (No. 4) preventing inpatient infections, (No. 5) managing re-admissions.

EMRs aren’t meeting all hospitals’ clinical surveillance and data analytics needs

• Most respondents (71 percent) said they invest in additional technology solutions to help them synthesize and understand EMR clinical data; 29 percent do not.
• Forty percent of respondents use their EMR for clinical data analytics, 27 percent use it for financial data analytics, and 26 percent use it for operational data analytics. Five percent said their EMR does not offer any of those data analytic capabilities, and 2 percent said they do not leverage their EMR’s data analytic capabilities.
• Of the respondents who use the clinical data analytics portion of their EMR, 29 percent said it works extremely or very well, 49 percent said it works moderately well, and 22 percent said it works slightly well or not well at all.

The return on investment (ROI) for clinical surveillance is clear

• Some 79 percent said there is probably or definitely ROI from clinical surveillance solutions; 19 percent were unsure, 2 percent said there was probably no ROI.
• The large majority (92 percent) said their clinical surveillance technology definitely or probably helps them improve quality, 8 percent were unsure. No respondents answered in the negative.

Link between hospital revenue and value-based care is strong going into 2019

• About a quarter (23 percent) of respondents said at least 31 percent or of their revenue will be tied to value in 2019. Of those, 6 percent said more than half of their revenue will be tied to value.
• Of respondents who solely use a third-party solution for clinical surveillance, more than one-third (37 percent) said over 31 percent of their revenue will be tied to value-based contracts in 2019.
• Only 15 percent of respondents who solely use an EMR for clinical surveillance said over 31 percent of their revenue will be tied to value.

“As hospitals continue to take on more value-based payment models, their ROI for clinical surveillance will grow,” said David Goldsteen, MD, CEO of VigiLanz. “At the same time, our survey showed that those who use a third-party solution for clinical surveillance are also more involved in value-based payment models, suggesting that they view clinical surveillance is a key lever for their success. I believe that we will only continue to see hospital leaders and physicians choose these solutions for a broader spectrum of patient care insights than is available through EMRs. These insights lead to more optimal care decisions that help them meet quality and cost targets and will lead to greater success under value-based payment models now and in the future.”