Importance of Data Management in Healthcare

The term and use of data management is nothing new. In fact, more and more companies, both large

and small, are beginning to utilize big data and associated analysis approaches as a way to gain

information to better support their company and serve their customers.

Getting the Right Information for Your Business

Focusing on the right information by asking what’s important to the business is a key point in

obtaining better data context. In a presentation held at TeamQuest ITSO Summit this past June titled

“The Data Driven Business of Winning” Managing Director of CMS Motor Sports Ltd. Mark Gallagher,

shared how Formula One teams successfully analyze data to ensure the safety of drivers and win

races.

Gallagher explained how a team of data engineers, analyzing reams of information in real time, can

help make strategic decisions for the business during the race. “In 2014 Formula One, any one of

these data engineers can call a halt to the race if they see a fundamental problem developing with

the system like a catastrophic failure around the corner.”

Healthcare data is also growing organically due to the rise of telemedicine and other forms of HIPAA-

compliant electronic communication–and, well, the government-mandated to switch to electronic

health records might have had an impact too.

Big Data for the Small Practice

Small practices that adopt big data usage are positioned to reap a multitude of benefits.

Deeper Patient Population Insights: With business intelligence, doctors can now mine their own

volumes of data quickly to pinpoint at-risk patients, manage those patients more closely, monitor the

spread of diseases and offer preventive measures to keep patient problems from ballooning into

chronic diseases. With patient disease trend information in hand, a practice also has more leverage

to negotiate with payers, make practice efficiency improvements and gain greater flexibility and

control over the business.

Controlling Patient Costs: It’s not just small practices who can benefit from the use of big data, it’s

also patients. According to other research from the Wall Street Journal, getting the same procedure

from a hospital-employed provider is at least twice as expensive compared to getting the service

done through an independent physician. Hospitals can negotiate higher reimbursement rates with

commercial payers due to stronger market power, and Medicare pays “substantially more” for

certain procedures if performed at a hospital, according to the report.

Wealth of Benefits: Small practices that adopt the use of big data are setting their practices up for a

multitude of benefits that will affect their bottom line and improve patient care. Big data and its

insights will empower small practices to quickly react and respond to market forces. This wealth of

information now means the power to improve a practice’s financial health and increase its patient

engagement is truly in the hands of those willing to adapt to technology’s effects.

In Order to achieve excellence, it is very important to be aware of how accurate your data is. Is your

data fully updated and organized ? Are you having trouble to find the right healthcare contacts (

doctors, hospitals etc., ) when required ? This is when you need a database which will help you

connect with the right business clients.