Data – The Star of the Show

One-week post #HIMSS19, blogs and articles are using phrases like “no one unifying theme”, “something for everyone”, “the invasion of non-healthcare high tech” and “the end of the EHR movement” to summarize the global conference key take-aways. Even though the exhibition showcased interoperability, artificial intelligence, telehealth, security, the internet of things, precision medicine and more, the focus was not on these technologies. In fact, a more subtle underlying reality was clear in both the education sessions and vendor booths. Data is the star of the show!

Data in the Spotlight at HIMSS

Data collection, data integrity and quality, data access, data for benchmarking and comparative analysis, data protection and safety, data as part of care management platforms, data analysis and prediction, data visualization and ultimately, the transformation of data into information each had the spotlight. Data and analytics vendors were certainly a major focus of the show. These vendors were not outdone by solutions which offered data a by-product of a much more comprehensive offering such as Enterprise Resource Planning or data embedded within cloud-based services designed to solve specific business and clinical problems such as readmissions. Moreover, CMS took center stage in multiple forums to discuss the Interoperability and Patient Access Proposed Rule. With a goal to touch all aspects of healthcare, from patients to providers to payers to researchers, “CMS hopes to break down existing barriers to important data exchange needed to empower patients by given them access to their health data,” CMS Administrator Seema Verma indicated. HIMSS even gotten directly into the act. Recognizing the importance of data and information, they have changed their vision statement from “better health through IT” to “better health through information and technology.”

Siloed Organizations and Turf Battles

Yet, even with all of this attention and applause its hard to reconcile the maturity of data initiatives in many health and healthcare organizations today and the challenges faced by many. For data to be valuable, data must be converted into information, information into insights, insights into decisions, and decisions into action. Unfortunately, many health and healthcare still manage their data assets within siloed organization structures. Turf battles are common. Data-related issues for decision makers often include:

  • Confusion over who “owns” data and analytics
  • Questions regarding centralization versus decentralization of analytics resources and tools
  • Limited trust in the data and reports created by other parts of the organization often resulting in considerable rework
  • Inconsistent data definitions, duplicate data sources and systems, and costly resource requirements
  • Analysts who don’t understand the problem to be solved when data requests are “thrown over the fence”
  • Proliferation of spreadsheets, manual manipulation of score cards, and limited automation
  • Delays and slow turnaround of data requests
  • Data repositories that create many but rarely used reports
  • An inability to fully appreciate much less realize the benefits of big data, and predictive and prescriptive analysis

According to thought leaders at SAP, “less than 1% of the world’s data in business is analyzed and turned into benefits”.

The Enterprise Analytics Management System

Creation of an organizational approach to standardizing management of data, or Enterprise Analytics Management System (EAMS), results in a defined, documented and deliberately managed set of priorities, polices, procedures and processes. The EAMS should address the collection, definition, analysis, interpretation, translation and presentation of data to a wide variety of audiences.

Objectives for the EAMS are to:

  • Transition from a data and analytics departmental/siloed approach to a clear, consistent enterprise approach to managing data assets
  • Ensure key stakeholders understand enterprise analytics assets and have a consistent methodology for working together across the organization
  • Clearly define an enterprise analytics organization and operating model
  • Build a culture of collaboration and accountability to support data and analytics
  • Design and implement an oversight process or governance process
  • Develop an Enterprise Analytics Strategy and Pragmatic Road Map for the next few years

For data to truly be the star of the show, we must improve our ability to govern and manage this critically important asset.

 

Two Canoes … and Four ‘I’s

Change: No two healthcare provider organizations experience it the same way. Some actively pursue development of clinically integrated networks and accountable care organizations, others double down on traditional healthcare practices. Many are paralyzed, not knowing what to do or how. The transition from volume to value has been described as “stepping from one canoe to another midstream.” Although the analogy clearly depicts the challenge, it doesn’t instruct healthcare executives how to successfully execute the step without falling in. The American Hospital Association has tackled this task by publishing a series of white papers describing the journey as moving from “first curve” to “second curve” healthcare. The most recent, Your Hospital’s Path to the Second Curve: Integration and Transformation (January 2014), provides 10 strategies, necessary organizational capabilities and potential paths for hospitals. It depicts a number of case study organizations that are actively “living in the gap” between volume and value, and describes various integrated delivery programs to improve care coordination, physician alignment, performance measures and patient outcomes. While most volume to value publications rarely address healthcare information technology, except to say “implement EHRs” as part of clinically integrated care, this white paper takes it a step further. It encourages health systems to “conduct information exchange” and use information systems to:

  • Implement electronic health records
  • Enhance health information system interoperability across sites of care
  • Use existing data to facilitate analysis and reporting for process improvement and behavioral change
  • Use predictive modeling for population health management
  • Use data analytics for care management and operational management

Yet, many health systems and providers are challenged to successfully execute these recommendations. In fact, we find the operational, clinical, financial, technological and legal unintended consequences of HITECH often undermine the potential benefit. Many clinicians still ask “why” and have not incorporated needed workflow changes.   Healthcare executives question what value they have received for their multimillion-dollar investments. To a certain degree, the focus on Meaningful Use and its incentives has been the “technology tail wagging the dog.” Rather than leading with the business strategy we wanted these systems to enable, the healthcare industry focused on the technology. So while healthcare strategists are actively living in the gap and planning the next step on the journey to value, clinicians and other users of information technology are struggling with the day-to-day impact these systems have left on care delivery. Rather than rushing to select health information exchange applications, layer on business intelligence systems and purchase care management systems, we suggest an alternative approach focused on value creation and realization. It starts with one letter – “i.” My friend Praveen Chopra, Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer at Thomas Jefferson University and the TJU Hospital System, started his career outside healthcare in retail and supply chain. “Rather than focusing on technology, the healthcare industry should focus on three “i’s” – information, integration and innovation,” Chopra says. At Maestro Strategies, we also want to focus on one more “i” – insight. We believe that a focus on these four words will help drive more value as we take the next steps on our joint transformation journey. Our “i-men” characters help us tell the “why,” and with this new website, we plan to bring our clients and friends specific strategies and tactics to help execute on the change and close the gap between the two canoes.