The ensuing is a guest piece penned by Rob Grant, Chief Commercial Officer at Kythera Labs. Over the past ten years, health systems have significantly increased their investment in analytics. However, numerous significant strategic choices, such as expanding a service line’s location and understanding the reasons for patient departures, are still based on an insufficient understanding.
The majority of organizations run 16 or more healthcare and operational systems, each possessing its own patient records and a distinct understanding of patient identity. When a single patient appears in multiple records, leaders are unable to view the complete patient experience.
This was painfully realized by one healthcare organization during a seemingly ordinary examination of their orthopedic service line. The data from within the organization indicated consistent levels of business activity and satisfactory profit margins. There were no indications of any issues initially.
However, once the organization linked its internal invoicing information with external claims, the situation took a different turn. The investigation revealed that a rival hospital had carried out a total of 382 knee replacement surgeries. Each process was recommended by one of the system’s own doctors.
