How Big Data Is Transforming the Healthcare Industry
Enterprise data has only just started to revolutionize healthcare
It’s easy to measure the impact of enterprise data on technical industries; from tech start-ups to eCommerce sites, the information gathered can be tied to individual transactions. But what about industries where data has privacy concerns or protected information? A European Commission study in 2016 found that big data applications in healthcare are promising, but must be approached carefully. The relationship between enterprise data and healthcare has been a growing concern for decades, as technology advances, what are the best ways to keep personal information private while also maximizing improvements in patient care?
All the information from every patient visit, including the digital patient forms they fill out all the way to their payment and insurance information gets included in the ecosystem of big data. Most of this information has privacy laws in place to protect it, but there are also emergency instances where this information would need to be accessed without express consent from the patient. If healthcare is first and foremost about caring for patients, what’s the best way to toe the line of privacy and problem-solving? This complex topic can’t be solved with a simple answer, so instead let’s explore the challenges, benefits, and who this relationship impacts.
“Historically, the complexity and cost of trying to combine data from disparate sources in meaningful ways prevented many organizations from making the attempt.”
Who Gets Impacted by Enterprise Healthcare Data?
Enterprise data in healthcare affects everyone in the industry. Large and small practices alike need to be able to communicate critical patient information instantly. In many cases, a patient’s journey can start at a small clinic, then move to a larger healthcare network or organization, and then even end up back in a small specialty practice. All their information, every detail from each visit, needs to be able to move seamlessly with them through their appointments. This means not only do the physicians and nursing staff need access to the data, but all medical record personnel does too. Anyone that’s handling billing or prescriptions in a pharmacy also counts.
But enterprise data doesn’t stop inside the medical office; it extends to insurance billing, Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), and even drug stores with savings club memberships. Combined with this may also be health information from the patients themselves, such as from a wearable fitness tracker or fitness apps on their mobile devices. All of this information together makes up the larger landscape of enterprise healthcare data, and while there are varying degrees of protected data included, an expectation of privacy remains. With enterprise healthcare data coming from so many sources for any individual patient, what are the best ways to keep data safe while maximizing patient care? Start by finding HIPAA-secure data capture solutions that can streamline all this information into a single, encrypted location.
How Can You Capture Healthcare Data Securely?
Medical technologies for electronic health records or digital patient forms mean a secure and safe way to obtain the data, and then compile it all into a digital platform that can also support faster analysis and trend identification. These solutions can be impactful in the way physicians and providers diagnose, treat, and even prevent different illnesses and ailments for their patients. But not all software solutions are created equally, and in many cases, software developers aren’t held to the same HIPAA standards that healthcare staff are. Be sure that you’re working with a trusted provider and ask them detailed questions about their security, development standards, and even customer support processes.
As technology advances, new options for patient care technologies hit the market regularly. The types of data your team can capture will vary depending on your practice and your needs, but there are a few specifics you should look for in any platform. Find platforms that are transparent about their support and genuinely want you to succeed. You’re paying for their program or devices, you shouldn’t also have to pay just to ask questions about security, setup, or where to find training materials. Whether you want to build out a full patient-facing portal or streamline a digital health history form template, or anything in between, you’ll want to work with a company you can trust.
“The simplicity of collecting data has shifted the focus from gathering patient information to establishing clear directions for the management, storage and interpretation of this information. Efforts made to streamline the usage of this data could have massive economical impacts on the healthcare system, improve the efficiency of healthcare teams and considerably improve patient health outcomes.”
Once you have systems in place that meet your required security standards, put policies in place at your clinic or office to ensure all team members understand the importance as well. Be clear about who should have what access levels, and hold training sessions with your team. Keeping everyone accountable is the best way to ensure rigid security standards are met.
What Are the Biggest Challenges with Enterprise Healthcare Data?
While there are many steps to implementing software for capturing your data, there are plenty of other challenges to address as well. The biggest challenge facing enterprise data in the healthcare space is privacy. And while you can always work with systems you trust, there’s a chance of a security breach with any technology or system. HIPAA laws have even expected this possibility, and include guidelines and processes for how to handle a breach in data security. The best way to address HIPAA and privacy laws is to keep your staff informed, and keep your policies up to date with your technologies. If your new software implementation incorporates single sign-on (SSO) accounts, make sure all your documentation is updated to reflect that users won’t need multiple usernames and passwords anymore.
Another major challenge of bringing big data into healthcare is keeping up with the technology itself. Technology isn’t the only thing advancing, so are medical insights, studies, and best practices. Just as your physicians keep up on the latest procedure training, they’ll also need to keep up with new technologies, platforms, and software updates. Instituting a culture within your practice that encourages learning, embracing learning curves, and addressing problems as soon as they arise can help ease these transitions.
“Reports say data from the U.S. healthcare system alone reached, in 2011, 150 exabytes. At this rate of growth, big data for U.S. healthcare will soon reach the zettabyte (1021 gigabytes) scale and, not long after, the yottabyte (1024 gigabytes).”
The last major challenge is one that affects organizations differently based on their size, and that’s the ability to implement new technologies. In smaller healthcare practices, the cost of new technologies can be a larger hurdle than what a larger organization would see. There often isn’t as much room in the budget for upgrading in-house tech or infrastructure, but that doesn’t mean it should be ignored. As a smaller practice, it’s important to keep your technology as up-to-date as possible. A great way to manage this is to focus on SaaS products, which are typically cloud-based, and included in the monthly subscription fee are the continuous upgrades to the system. While it may be tempting to pay for a single instance of a software program, keep in mind that you’ll have to pay for regular upgrades, and in the long run it may be easier to budget for a monthly or annual subscription. Larger organizations may not face the budgetary concerns as much, but do have more staff members to train, and in the case of hardware, will need to make sure there are enough devices to cover their physicians’ needs.
What Are the Biggest Benefits to Enterprise Healthcare Data?
While those challenges are a lot to take in, you have to also keep in mind the benefits that vastly outweigh them. Advances in technology can mean a world of difference, and the ability to keep all your patient data tracked succinctly, in one cohesive place, for each physician to access is priceless. Many believe the true value of big data in healthcare has barely been tapped. When all your patient data is stored together, each physician can access all previous visit information at a glance. This means your patients won’t be recalling their exact concerns at each visit, and your team can better track their progress. In cases where you’ve implemented a patient portal, this is also information that your patient has access to so they never have to second guess why a test was ordered, or what prescription they were given.
“Biomedical research on public health also provides a large portion of the big data that, if properly managed and analyzed, can serve as meaningful information for patients, doctors, administrators, and researchers alike.”
Another benefit to enterprise data is the ability to provide faster, more streamlined care to your patients. When all your systems are integrated together, it becomes much easier to get the proper information in the right place. For example, physicians who can easily see all other medications that their patient is taking will be able to safely prescribe new medications faster. In the case of emergency situations, where possibly the patient isn’t conscious, this is imperative to keeping the patient safe. If all of these health records are kept in a place with universal access, that means even providers at outside, smaller clinics will be able to see what other medications or treatments have been tried or prescribed, and can even see adverse medication reactions that the patient possibly doesn’t remember the name of.
In line with supporting better patient care, advances in imaging technologies make the ability to share this information with other physicians more possible than ever. Instead of waiting on traditional mail, any imaging can immediately be seen by other physicians across the world. While it may not be common, the ability to share and collaborate over lab work and imagery means that there are no boundaries to the level of care patients receive just based on their location. And in a world where very few, especially those in emergency medical situations, have the means to travel to seek additional opinions or treatment, these advances are saving lives regularly.
Where big data truly shines in healthcare is the possibilities for preventative medicine. By pooling massive amounts of data from patients there’s a much higher likelihood to see trends, adverse reactions, or even analyzing potential patient outcomes. When researchers have access to the anonymous, compiled data, they have the ability to see early detection signs for different diseases and can build better testing processes to prevent future cases. Even though providers will choose different treatments for individual patients, being able to see how each course of treatment played out can give insight into future diagnoses.
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