Business Intelligence in Healthcare

America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) regulations, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) mandates, advancement in healthcare and technology, and the general nature of healthcare services, have healthcare organizations overwhelmed with data. Without a business intelligence (BI) program in place to target, gather, deliver and analyze the most relevant data, these organizations will continue to adhere to the old adage, “data rich but information poor.” Fortunately however, the forward-thinking healthcare organizations have realized BI must be at the center of informed decision making in order to improve patient and services outcomes.

To achieve the full benefits of BI, organizations must take an enterprisewide strategic approach. This strategic approach to BI must cut across the organization, have buy-in not only from corporate bean counters and top executives, but also physicians and clinical staff.

Joe Mullich for BusinessWeek Research Services noted practitioners that adopted BI reported the following results:

Cost Savings. Healthcare organizations are using BI to eliminate waste and mine data stores to examine and recoup denied claims.

Improved margins. Since implementing a BI/balanced scorecard program, Nemours-one of the largest pediatric health systems in the United States-has improved its gross margins by roughly 2 percentage points each year.

Improved patient satisfaction. A new study from Aberdeen Group found that best-in-class healthcare organizations achieved a 15 percent increase in patient satisfaction scores by using BI and analytic tools.

Better care. Denver Health and Hospital Authority is leveraging BI tools to improve patient outcomes using point-of-care information to identify high-risk and non-compliant patients.

Significant gains can be had by healthcare organizations that adopt BI. However, they must take a more enterprisewide, platform-based approach to BI rather than focusing on point or departmental solutions.