Trends Impacting Healthcare and Patient Outcomes
Posted on Fri, Aug 12, 2011 @ 07:30
The healthcare industry today is sitting on oceans of untapped data that can make real differences in patient outcomes and medical costs.
How do healthcare organizations benefit if they could systematically collect, analyze, present, and then act on those oceans of data?
Trends Impacting Healthcare.
- New and changing government regulations: HIPAA, Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, Security, Meaningful Use Requirements)
- Fragmented document and records management
- Inefficient, paper-based manual processes and workflows
- Reporting processes can be fragmented, costly and time-consuming
- Remote access is limited and not secure
- Maintaining privacy and security of patient data is a significant concern
A sound system for outcome measurement will combine existing statistics and audits, new clinical registers, and patient attitudes to the results of their operation.
The following issues need to be addressed:
- What do we measure? - Deciding which operations define a surgeon’s ability and are done frequently enough by all surgeons within a specialty to get statistically meaningful data will be tougher for some areas than others.
- How do we measure? – What is considered a successful operation will very much depend on the type of procedure, the seriousness of the condition it is aiming to treat and the age/fitness/expectation of the patient.
- Timescale – How long after the operation does its true outcome become apparent? For many operations it may be some years afterwards, for others the results may be instantaneous.
- Patient reported and clinical analysis – Both are important and should be given due weight. But evidence-based, clinical analysis operates by a scientific set of measurements; whereas patient experience is far more nuanced and subjective. Any system of outcomes will need to be sophisticated enough to allow these two worlds to meet – and that will take refinement and experience.
- How do we publish? – With a lot of complex statistical data to be gathered and reconciled, careful planning must be put into how this data is published for various audiences – especially the general public for whom the information must be both easily understandable and sophisticated enough to give them valid choice.
- Risk adjustment – Statistics gathering must take account of surgeons who take on the highest risk cases or are developing new techniques. Outcome measurement must not encourage a spirit of conservatism in medical practice.
- Data quality – variation in the quality of how data is recorded exists across the NHS and improved data systems. Training for clerks and harmonization of processes must be a priority for government if the system is to produce valid results.
- Team v individual data? – Modern medical practice is increasingly focused on working across disciplines and aiming for better care by inter-reliance between specialists. While being refined, outcome measures should focus on team results to ensure their validity before drilling down to individual level.