The Hidden Gap Between Data and Action
Nowadays, there is an abundance of information available to healthcare organizations when it comes to missed screening, chronic care gaps, failed follow-ups, and patient engagement opportunities. Yet, despite being well informed, many healthcare organizations are still struggling to act upon this information effectively.
In most healthcare organizations, workflows are largely manual and reliant on spreadsheets, disjointed communication channels, and poor coordination strategies. Therefore, it becomes increasingly difficult for the insights generated from analytics to be transformed into action within healthcare workflows.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), chronic diseases have become one of the biggest causes of increasing costs in the healthcare industry in the United States.
Why Workflow Coordination Is Critical
One of the greatest difficulties faced by healthcare organizations is not the shortage of information, but the ability to coordinate action between different operational groups.
Clinical case managers, clinicians, administrative staff, and operations staff often find themselves operating from separate information systems and processes. These gaps can result in slower communication, inconsistent responsibility for tasks, and a failure to capitalize on opportunities to proactively manage patient care.
In situations where healthcare organizations are measured against quality measures, prevention, and patient engagement, however, workflow coordination becomes increasingly important. In such cases, even the most sophisticated analytics capabilities can fail to deliver results without the appropriate operational workflow processes.
Research published by Health Affairs has highlighted the rising significance of care coordination and integration within healthcare systems.
The Shift Toward Operational Execution Platforms
When the topic of healthcare technology is discussed, there tends to be a lot of focus on analytics, artificial intelligence, and prediction modeling. The area of operational execution platforms is now equally relevant.
It is possible that innovations in healthcare might be determined not just by finding the gaps in patient care, but also in designing operational execution systems that can improve the execution of interventions.
A healthcare workflow platform could assist healthcare organizations in:
- enhancing transparency in tasks
- facilitating better care coordination
- dealing with operational silos
- optimizing communication workflows
- initiatives for preventative care
- follow-ups for patients
Striking the Right Balance Between Technology and Coordination
Although automation and analytics could make healthcare processes better, coordination still needs to be considered. In order for there to be strong healthcare systems, it would have to have operational systems where the doctors, care coordinators, and administration work together well.
Information technology shouldn’t just give more information. The benefit of information technology is its capability to help operational teams to act on information.
The organizations that manage to use both analytics visibility and workflow execution will have a leg up.
Future Perspectives
As noted by NEJM Catalyst, a growing number of value-based care models emphasize quality outcomes, prevention, and effective healthcare delivery systems. While healthcare providers move toward adopting value-based care models, operational execution difficulties will gain increased importance within the healthcare industry.
The advancement in the field of healthcare goes well beyond the use of technology itself. Effective coordination and execution of operations become essential to innovation in healthcare.
In the coming years, healthcare facilities might find success in action rather than just the collection of data.
References
- CDC — Chronic Disease Overview
https://www.cdc.gov/chronic-disease/about/index.html
- Health Affairs — Care Coordination Collection
https://www.healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/hpb20220225.361678
- NEJM Catalyst — What Is Value-Based Care?
https://catalyst.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/CAT.17.0558
