The healthcare industry has been facing significant disruption in recent years, due largely to the Affordable Care Act (ACA). ACA has changed the landscape in how medical records are maintained. Many healthcare providers, especially smaller ones, had not previously implemented an electronic medical records system when ACA was first enacted. With the implementation of the ACA, the role of IT in healthcare organizations has changed significantly. Meeting reporting deadlines has required the IT organization in healthcare to move quickly to provide easy access to data.
Now that most providers are using Electronic Medical Records (EMR), the healthcare industry is in a good position for the next wave in healthcare IT. EMR has set the stage to allow healthcare systems to have greater visibility into the business and to identify opportunities for improvement across the spectrum of patient care delivery. This is made possible through a Data Warehouse and Business Intelligence (BI) solution.
Compelling Benefits of a Data Warehouse and BI Solution
There are many advantages to implementing a data warehouse and BI solution. The ability to slice and dice data from an EMR system opens up discussion on how you can run your healthcare system more efficiently. Let’s walk through some of the benefits of a data warehouse and BI solution.
Access Data in a Single Location – Access to all data from a single dashboard is a must in order to meet reporting mandates without depending on the IT department to pull data for multiple data sources.
Identify Trends – Having all your data in one location allows you to find trends related to operational issues, financial issues, quality of care issues, etc. There are many insights available from the data to help providers make better decisions to improve operational efficiency and patient care delivery.
Streamline Processes – Easy access to data makes it possible for providers to take action to streamline processes for efficiency. Increased productivity and the welfare of hospital staff and patients are key to running an efficient healthcare organization.
Determine Quality of Care –Insights enable the provider to improve their decision making processes and continually assess the current status in their quality of care.
A Data Warehouse is Much More than Just a Database
You may be thinking to yourself, “I already have a database, so why would we need a data warehouse?” If you want to slice and dice your data to gain valuable insights, a data warehouse is the way to go. Here’s a breakdown that explains the difference between a database and a data warehouse.
A typical database is an OLTP (online transaction processing) database. The important thing to understand is that a transactional database is designed to store as many transactions as possible as fast as possible. To efficiently perform meaningful reporting, you need a data warehouse. A typical data warehouse is a dimensional database. Instead of being designed for fast transactions, dimensional databases are design for analytics and reporting. The data warehouse gathers data from associated data sources and creates a layer dedicated to reporting and analytics. So, the best way to look at it is like this – a data warehouse exists as a layer on top of another data bank(s). To deliver easy access to data for insights and reporting a data warehouse is necessary.
Challenges Facing Healthcare Providers
As previously mentioned, the implementation of the ACA has advanced the industry’s technology adoption. Healthcare providers still face many challenges.
Lack of Access to All Data (The Silos Dilemma) – Each area of a healthcare facility has its own data source. This can cause frustration when you need to generate reports from multiple repositories.
Inability to Produce Timely Reports – It can take a lot of time to pull the data together to compile a report, especially if you have to combine the data from various spreadsheets, databases, etc. It can sometimes take a week or more just to get all the data you need.
No Access to Specialized Reporting – Some data sources are closed with little to no reporting option, which limits the ability to run specialized reports when needed.
Capability to Slice and Dice Data is Nonexistent – Many providers do not have access to layered reporting. This prevents them from pulling data they need.
Limited Ability to Quickly and Easily Run Mandated Quality Reports – These reports require data from multiple data sources. This can be a difficult and timely process. The impact can mean delayed payments to your facility.
Flawed Reporting Limits the Ability to Make Sound Business Decisions – Faulty systems produce flawed reporting. A poorly implemented data warehouse may produce flawed reports that can lead to decisions that may negatively impact your business.
Having the right data warehouse solution will help you overcome these obstacles.
A New Data Warehouse and BI Solution
XpressInsight is our new data warehouse and business intelligence product to be launched at the HiMSS17 conference on February 19th. Unlike traditional approaches to data warehousing either built from scratch or through an out-of-the-box approach, XpressInsight is a standardized and secure Framework as a Service (FaaS). It includes a rapid deployment set of software tools and modules specifically for implementing a healthcare data warehouse and business intelligence solution quickly and with no up-front cost.
XpressInsight allows healthcare organizations to rapidly implement an enterprise data warehouse and business intelligence solution to enable healthcare organizations to easily access data for operational efficiency and improved patient care delivery.
DIFFERENT THAN AN OUT OF THE BOX DATA WAREHOUSE SOLUTION
An out of the box data warehouse solution is intended to allow an organization to “plug and play.” This sounds appealing. The reality though is that no two providers are exactly the same. Most data warehouse systems need some customization. The typical wait time for IT to customize the implementation is usually slow and frustrating.
XpressInsight is different because we have a framework already developed. This Framework as a Service model allows for a quick implementation with no up front costs. It can be customized to meet the needs of a provider. This FaaS model is a low-cost investment that can yield substantial results.
EASY ACCESS TO QUALITY REPORTS FOR CENTERS FOR MEDICARE & MEDICAID SERVICES (CMS)
One of the biggest benefits to the FaaS model found in XpressInsight is easy ability to create quality reports that satisfy reporting mandates and provide insights into trends and streamlines processes.
WHAT’S NEEDED TO INTEGRATE XPRESSINSIGHT?
A provider doesn’t need a lot of IT people, which is another reason the implementation is painless. Here’s a breakdown of what a provider needs to implement XpressInsight.
An EMR solution must be in place.
Input from users to identify the information that’s required to satisfy reporting and analytics.
A Subject Matter Expert (SME) to communicate about data entities that are necessary.
IS XPRESSINSIGHT ONLY FOR HEALTHCARE PROVIDERS?
Absolutely not. Dobler Consulting developed this data warehouse and BI solution for use in any industry. The initial rollout is focused on healthcare providers.