The information that your staff obtains, generates and stores about patients is of enormous importance on an individual basis, with medical professionals also taking into account the medical histories of family members when making their diagnosis.
But the information you gather on every patient through your electronic health record software is also important in the aggregate. The more data in your system, the more valuable information you can mine from the database. And as you amass information on all of your patients, you are venturing into “Big Data” territory.
With advances in computer technology and software now enabling small-to-medium businesses to get involved with big data more easily than ever before, it makes sense for medical organizations to consider the benefits of analyzing this information on a regular basis.
Whether you call it big data or simply refer to it as business intelligence, there is a treasure trove of information being stockpiled by your organization that you can start using more intensively to support business and medical decisions. With EHR data analytics, you can manage your medical organization more efficiently, which leads to better health care and a boost for your bottom line.
Generating Timely Reports
Without an easy-to-use software interface, managers at medical facilities often find themselves struggling to generate reports on a timely basis. This is especially the case when they have to create customized reports in a hurry, such as to address a pressing matter during the next staff meeting.
With EHR data analytics, it’s crucial that the software is intuitive to use, so you should make sure the application you’re considering implementing has a user-friendly dashboard. This reduces training time and lets the staff quickly get down to the business of drilling down into the data.
You can use EHR data analytics to support the generation of reports on revenue cycle management, for example, or to produce billing reports on various categories of patients. When your team is charged with improving operations, you’ll use big data to benchmark key performance indicators.
Controlling Access
Data security is of paramount importance, so your EHR data analytics software should include safeguards to protect information and control access to your centralized records. You’ll make sure that you’re adhering to HIPAA regulations and only letting authorized personnel enter the system in the first place.
Discovering Patterns to Improve Healthcare
Managers of medical organizations sometimes find themselves surprised by the data they’re generating for EHR analytics.
For example, you might detect a problem in decreased physician or nurse productivity that might have continued to go unnoticed for many more months without a rigorous analysis. You can even see trends, such as the number of patients that fail to follow up when your staff reminds them to come in for an annual test, and then adjust how you communicate with them, going forward.
Medical organizations that harness the power of big data and data analytics to manage and process patient information put themselves at a competitive advantage because they can identify emerging patterns and trends more readily. This leads to better business intelligence and ultimately to better decisions regarding patient care as well as the financial side of the practice.
Key Takeaway
- The use of “Big Data” is no longer confined to the just the largest corporations. Medical practices of any size can now use EHR data analytics for greater insight.
- EHR data analytics provide the timely information that managers need to generate customized reports.
- You can control access to data, ensuring that only authorized staffers can check on sensitive patient information.
- Patterns that your team discovers through EHR data analytics can help you improve the level of healthcare you provide.
- EHR data analytics will also let your staff make better business decisions.
