EHRs Archives - Management Information Analysis

Data Integration Trends Include Regulations and Compliance Factors

August 3, 2016 by MIAWebAdmin

The growth of complex regulations that surround the use of data.

In healthcare, we now have a “meaningful use” standard, which is the use of certified Electronic Health Record (EHR) technology to improve quality, safety, and efficiency, as well as reduce health disparities. This means data and data integration.

Other regulations continue to arise that deal with data, such as health regulations in Europe, Sarbanes Oxley reporting, financial reporting regulations, and the list gets longer each year.

Common patterns of data integration in support of regulation include the ability to secure data in flight, as well as make sure that logs are kept of data movement and data integration procedures are followed.

These trends are happening now; it’s not just a prediction. If data integration is a part of your job, you should study these trends and understand the value that they could bring to your organization.

Our data integration and custom application development expertise allows our analysts to load, transform, mix, and match data sets as needed. We can blend internal with external data sources to establish historical trends and to project need and demand, which are the backbone of any feasibility study.

Additionally, we can help you monitor trends, measure progress toward a specific quantitative goal, or flag shifts in your market or business operations.

Take a look at one of our healthcare success stories, for example. And then call us to start a conversation that can enhance your data management investment while you make savvy delivery-location decisions.

Engage a successful, seasoned team of data integration analysts. We cost less and deliver more. Our Austin, Texas location keeps us at the epicenter of planning analytics and data-driven healthcare innovation and keeps our global capabilities and services at the forefront of our industry.

Email us at kcerny@mia-consulting.com or call us at 512.478.3848 to start a friendly, productive conversation.

Data Tools Lead to Smart Healthcare Expansion

July 27, 2016 by MIAWebAdmin

Retailers for many years have used geo-analytics—visualization or mapping tools integrating sophisticated geographical and marketing data—to decide where to open stores and restaurants. Healthcare is starting to go that way, too.

But they may make very different choices based on that data when siting a clinic for low-income people versus picking a spot for a high-end clothing store, for instance. The data are much the same, but the perspective is going to be totally different.

Healthcare organizations need to do their own homework, analyzing their patients through data extracted from electronic health records (EHRs) and health insurance claims data to see what kinds of services potential healthcare patients use, where they live, and what types of coverage they have. These data can be combined with market data, traffic pattern information, and retail location maps.

Hospitals typically have relied on inpatient data for planning. But the shift to outpatient care has created a gap in the availability of useful data because outpatient facilities often don’t have to report data to state agencies.

Still, the availability of outpatient data is improving as some states and healthcare analytics firms are collecting and analyzing it. The emphasis on data analysis and population health management in the Affordable Care Act is leading to improved data access to plan services and facilities and to help healthcare organizations decide whether to buy existing medical practices or build new ones. The trick is to take information generated by the healthcare system itself and merge that with public data sets such as census statistics on population density and income levels.

Additional data on disease rates, crime statistics, or air quality can be added, along with locations of farms markets, gyms, and parks. The healthcare industry is a decade behind the utilization curve set by the retail, logistics, and energy industries.

Our custom application development expertise allows our analysts to load, transform, mix, and match data sets as needed. We can blend internal with external data sources to establish historical trends and to project need and demand, which are the backbone of any feasibility study.

Additionally, we can help you monitor trends, measure progress toward a specific quantitative goal, or flag shifts in your market or business operations.

Take a look at one of our healthcare success stories. And then call us to start a conversation that can enhance your data management investment while you make savvy delivery location decisions.

Engage a successful, seasoned thought partner to get a value-laden perspective. Our Austin, Texas location keeps us at the epicenter of planning analytics and data-driven healthcare innovation and keeps our global capabilities and services at the forefront of our industry.

Survey: Two Thirds of Americans are Willing to Share Their Health Data

December 2, 2014 by miawebadmin

Privacy is one of the main concerns of any data analytics process that involves gathering information from consumers. This is even more true in the case of health care because of the sensitive nature of the data. But health care is also one of the industries that stands to benefit, and indeed is already benefiting, the most from analytics. Now, a survey conducted by NPR and Truven Health Analytics shows that Americans are probably more willing to share their medical information than is generally thought.

Sixty-eight percent of respondents to the survey said they would allow their health data to be used anonymously for research purposes. Conversely, when asked if they feel uncomfortable sharing their records, only 16 percent agreed they don’t like sharing with their insurers, 14 percent with hospitals and 11 percent with physicians.

The survey also shows a significant adoption of electronic health records (EHRs): 74 percent said their physicians use them. That percentage is higher among patients that are older and those with a higher level of education.

“An overwhelming number of patients have had experiences with EHRs, which seems to point toward a concerted effort among health care providers to share information as a means to faster, more accurate care,” said Truven CMO Michael Taylor. “While privacy concerns have been an issue in the past, as EHRs continue to become more prevalent, it appears that Americans are becoming increasingly comfortable sharing this type of information with employers, providers and health plans.”

Health organizations are increasing their EHR adoption and improving their access to updated patient data. With comprehensive ETL architecture, they can make those records available across various providers, further improving the efficiency of their operations.

MGMA Reveals Dissatisfaction with CMS Reporting

November 2, 2014 by miawebadmin

At the MGMA14 event in Las Vegas, the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) revealed the results of a survey it conducted among more than 1,000 physicians on the effectiveness of the reporting programs run by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). A majority of those surveyed said that the programs have not improved quality of service, instead making reporting needlessly complex.

On the plus side, 83 percent of respondents said their organizations have internal programs in place to improve clinical quality, and 77 percent use evidence-based analytical tools for that purpose. But 84 percent said that the three federal programs — EHR Meaningful Use, Physician Quality Reporting System and the Value-Based Payment Modifier Program — do not contribute to improving quality, and 85 percent claimed they had negatively affected productivity due to their complexity.

Physicians believe that the inefficiency of the reporting programs affects not just quality of care but the overall operations of health care centers, using up the staff’s valuable time. Most agreed that the CMS should consolidate the three programs to streamline the reporting process and eliminate redundancies.

“Medicare has lost focus with its physician quality reporting programs,” said MGMA vice president of government affairs Anders Gilberg. “Instead of providing timely, meaningful and actionable information to help physicians treat patients, this has become a massive bureaucratic reporting exercise. Each program has its own set of arcane and duplicative rules which force physician practices to divert resources away from patient care.”

Until the CMS enacts changes, health care providers can institute data management solutions that will help them reduce the amount of staff time spent on the reporting process.

Study Forecasts Accelerated Five-Year Growth for Health Care Analytics

November 1, 2014 by miawebadmin

A recently published report from market research firm TechNavio predicts that the global health care analytics market will increase at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of roughly 25 percent in the period between 2013 and 2018. The company identifies the increasing adoption of electronic health records (EHRs) by health care providers as one of the major drivers of this growth.

The use of EHRs is fast becoming widespread, initially as a tool to make patients’ health information readily available and easy to update, but the potential future benefits go much further. EHRs could allow physicians to share information with their peers anywhere in the world, and this collaboration could lead to improved diagnoses in particularly difficult or unusual cases.

As this blog reported, a separate study by IQ4I Research and Consultancy recently forecasted that the market will reach $20.8 billion in value by 2020. TechNavio also identified some specific areas where they expect to see particular development, including on the business side, where reducing medical errors will bring down costs.

“Health care analytics analyzes this data to provide insightful information regarding planning, management, measurement and learning in health care enterprises,” the report reads. “This information can then be used to enhance the decision-making capability of top management.”

Both IQ4I and TechNavio agreed that the major factors that could prevent even faster market growth are privacy and security concerns. While the benefits of experts sharing information among themselves are evident, there will also naturally be questions about patient confidentiality and whether sensitive data is secure. But it is undeniable that data solutions can have a very positive effect on the health care industry, and security measures are already evolving in step with the market itself.

Survey: High Satisfaction Among Mobile EHR Users

October 28, 2014 by miawebadmin

Research Now has published the results of a survey of 600 physicians on their use of electronic health records (EHRs), showing an overall growth in the use of EHRs and other technological resources on the part of health care providers. Only 26 percent of respondents said they access EHRs from mobile devices, but their degree of satisfaction is much higher than that of desktop and laptop users. Fifty-eight percent of mobile users said they are “very satisfied” with their EHRs, compared to just 28 percent for non-mobile solutions.

Among the main reasons for that satisfaction is ease of use: only 39 percent of physicians who access EHRs on mobile devices found the technology challenging to learn, versus 58 percent of non-mobile users. When asked about their EHRs’ effect on productivity, the results were similarly very favorable toward mobile solutions.

Twenty-eight percent of respondents said they or their organizations plan to increase their investment in EHRs, with most of that going to patient portals. These portals provide patients with 24-hour access to their own personal health information, and are an essential part of what the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act defines as “Meaningful Use Stage 2.” This is in keeping with the findings of a ResearchFox study that identified federal guidelines as one of the main drivers of health care analytics.

Among EHR challenges, the most common response was a difficulty integrating data from external systems, followed by importing existing records. ETL development makes it easier to draw patients’ information from diverse sources and bring it all together in EHRs, where it can be conveniently accessed.

Report: Federal Guidelines Driving Health Care Analytics

October 15, 2014 by miawebadmin

A report by consulting firm ResearchFox has identified the main factors behind the ongoing growth of the global health care analytics market. As this blog reported recently, a forecast by IQ4I Research and Consultancy predicts that the market will reach $20.8 billion in the year 2020. ResearchFox agrees, anticipating a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 22 percent over the next four years, when the market will go from the current $4.8 billion to more than $10 billion in 2018.

In the United States specifically, ResearchFox gives much of the credit for that anticipated growth to expanding federal mandates, which are leading to increased use of electronic health records (EHRs) and implementation of health information exchanges (HIEs). Experts also believe that growth will accelerate as the benefits of analytics become more noticeable. Primarily, quick and easy access to health information is already leading to improved patient diagnoses as physicians have a larger pool of data to study.

Other advantages include providing easy access to doctor performance evaluations and more effectively detecting health care fraud. For providers, health care analytics work in much the same way as business intelligence analytics, giving essential insights that will allow them to divert personnel and resources in order to improve their services and revenue.

Conversely, a few factors will prevent the market from growing even faster, most notably security concerns and a lack of analytics and IT expertise among current health care workers. Over time, as analytics usage becomes more prevalent, this situation will be resolved because organizations will put a greater focus on hiring employees who can efficiently manage analytics tools.

Apple’s HealthKit Sends Data to Electronic Health Records

October 5, 2014 by miawebadmin

Apple’s application programming interface (API) HealthKit was finally implemented with the release of its latest mobile software update, iOS 8.0.2, on Thursday. The API allows software developers to work on apps that will be fully compatible with Apple’s own Health app.

HealthKit is a great opportunity for custom application development companies, and it also has the potential to change the health care marketplace with the way it gathers data in real time and facilitates the exchange of information. As Gizmodo reports, users whose health care providers employ Epic Systems software can now send their information directly to their electronic health records. In the future, this service will expand to other providers as well, as talks between Apple and several hospitals are reportedly ongoing.

“This could eliminate the hassle of getting data from patients, who want to give it to us,” said Ricky Bloomfield, a pediatrician and director of mobile strategy at Duke University, to Reuters. “HealthKit removes some of the error from patients’ manually entering their data.”

With the recently released iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus and the upcoming Apple Watch, users will be able to track their physical activity via GPS, with apps able to calculate, for instance, how many calories have been burned based on whether the wearer was running, walking or riding a bicycle. The smartwatch will also have the capability to directly monitor vital signs.

These innovations have the potential to be true game changers in the world of healthcare data management. Physicians will have instant and easy access to their patients’ updated health information, which will make it easier for them to make accurate assessments and diagnoses.

Health Care Industry Cautious About Technology Adoption

September 21, 2014 by miawebadmin

A study by the Harvard Business Review shows that health care professionals are among the most cautious when it comes to adopting and implementing new technologies. The study is part of a larger survey of industry executives, who were questioned on their organizations’ approach to technological advances.

Of the health care respondents, 71 percent said they wait until a technology has been established and proven to be effective before investing in it, whereas only 27 percent seek to be among the first adopters. As for which specific technologies health care organizations adopt, the only one that the majority reported was mobile solutions, with an adoption rate of 64 percent.

But the study’s authors noted that early adoption gives organizations a significant advantage — a separate Accenture study found that 41 percent of patients would be willing to change providers entirely if it gave them access to digital records.

Experts are confident that health organizations won’t lag much longer. At The Economist’s Health Care Forum, which was held last week in Boston, Bain Capital managing director Chris Gordon noted that the adoption of electronic health records, which the federal government has spurred on, is creating a vital infrastructure for storing patient data. “Now that information is available and can flow, you’ll see big players come on and we’ll be able to bridge that gap,” he said. “The building blocks are in place to see that over the next decade.”

ETL architecture (extract, transform, load) can help health care providers process that newly available data to draw meaningful conclusions. If the health care industry is willing to be more proactive about adopting technological solutions, patients, physicians and organizations will all benefit.

AMA Calls for Electronic Health Record Overhaul

September 19, 2014 by miawebadmin

The American Medical Association (AMA) has released a framework outlining eight ways that it believes electronic health records (EHRs) should be improved to enhance usability. In October 2013, the RAND Corporation released the results of a survey showing a general dissatisfaction with EHRs on the part of physicians, who complained that they are not simple enough to use. The goal of EHRs, says the AMA, should not be simply to replace paper, but to make record-keeping easier.

“Physician experiences documented by the AMA and RAND demonstrate that most electronic health record systems fail to support effective and efficient clinical work,” said AMA president-elect Steven J. Stack. “This has resulted in physicians feeling increasingly demoralized by technology that interferes with their ability to provide first-rate medical care to their patients.”

Both RAND’s study and a similar survey by the International Data Corporation showed that doctors find current EHRs cumbersome and time-consuming. The AMA laid out eight “usability priorities” for EHRs going forward:

Enhance physicians’ ability to provide high-quality patient care
Support team-based care
Promote care coordination
Offer product modularity and configurability
Reduce cognitive workload
Promote data liquidity
Facilitate digital and mobile patient engagement
Expedite user input into product design and post-implementation feedback.

The AMA recognizes the value of EHRs as essential for healthcare data management, but finds their current design impractical.

“Now is the time to recognize that requiring electronic health records to be all things to all people — regulators, payers, auditors and lawyers — diminishes the ability of the technology to perform the most critical function — helping physicians care for their patients,” concluded Stack. “Physicians believe it is a national imperative to reframe policy around the desired future capabilities of this technology and emphasize clinical care improvements as the primary focus.”