Aug 12
2014
Healthcare Big Data Defined: Improving Care, Coordination and Coding
Lance Speck, general manager of Actian cloud and healthcare, speaks here about healthcare big data and how it can be used in healthcare to improve processes from care coordination to coding for ICD-10. In his day job, he is focused on delivering healthcare solutions to help payers and providers address an estimated $450 billion annual opportunity created through data analytics, ranging from fraud analytics to patient re-admission reduction to staff optimization to accountable care reporting and clinical auto-coding. For more than 20 years, Lance has served in a variety of management, sales and product roles in the software industry including a decade focused on SaaS, cloud and healthcare.
How can big data analytics improve patient care?
According to a recent PwC survey, 95 percent of healthcare CEOs are exploring better ways of using and managing big data; however, only 36 percent have made any headway in getting to grips with big data. All agree that big data analytics has the potential to improve the quality and cost of care, but many are still struggling with finding the right ways to infuse analytics into everyday operations. Assuming they realize that they already have access to the data, what do they do with it? What are the areas that will have the biggest impact? Where do they start?
Start with the basics. Organizations should focus in infusing big data analytics where a big impact can be recognized. They should ask themselves:
- Is there enough value in solving the problem?
- Can the problem can be predicted?
- Can the problem be prevented?
- Can the predictive action be delivered accurately, and in a timely fashion to make a difference?
Very early in the process, organizations should address how they plan to incorporate big data into the everyday workflow of clinicians, financial staff and other healthcare stakeholders for organizations to:
- Use predictive analytics against historical and external data to anticipate patient occupancy needs to adjust staffing levels to have the right care available at the right time.
- Use science to determine with accuracy health trends in specific communities and take action to prevent costly
- Determine patients’ risk of readmission before they are discharged to improve patient outcomes and reduce costs and penalties by nearly $70 billion.
- Realize that for this insight to be effective, you must put this information into the hands of the clinicians and the patients in the format that fits their daily flow.
How can healthcare providers transition to ICD-10 as simply as possible?