How Data Analysts Can Improve Healthcares Bottom Line

How Data Analysts Can Improve Healthcares Bottom Line How Data Analysts Can Improve Healthcares Bottom Line How Data Analysts Can Improve Healthcares Bottom Line Boerner In your hospital right now, theres a patient getting ready to be discharged thats already on the path back to the hospital. Thats because theres some marker, some problem in his results, thats sowing the seeds for a preventable readmission and possibly a ding from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. But to find that thing that would prevent the readmission and consequences from CMS, you have to wade through a dizzying amount of data in your electronic medical records. And unfortunately, most organizations, whether big or small, simply arent prepared to do it. In an environment of ever-growing regulation, value-based payments and accountable care organizations, data isnt just an issue of performance. Itsan issue that impacts the bottom line. Data Analysts to the Rescue Thats where data analysts come in and thats exactly why you need to start hiring for data aggregation, says Mike Garzone, solutions director the Advanced Technology division of CTG Health Solutions, a healthcare IT and business solutions consulting company in Dallas. When the data can tell me that a patient in a bed today has a high probability of returning in September, I want to know about it now, he says. And to do that, you need to have and train data analysts. Differentiating Data and Information Data and information are often thought of together, but in fact theyre not the same thing. Data is a list of facts; it takes a data analyst to cull through the static to produce intelligible information that you can use to improve care in reimbursements. In order for clinical data to be effective, it must be precise and consistent across all enterprise computer systems. The Data Analyst Role Data analysts cleanse, transform, and model data to create information. They can also play another role as data stewards. In this role, they transform information as they create and maintain data definitions in metadata registries to promote quality and consistency. Think of them as your own catchers in the rye who catch important data that can save patients from readmissions, infections and overuse all the things that the CMS is working hard to reduce. Getting Ahead of the Data Curve Theres another frontier after Meaningful Use and ICD-10, says Dayna Sessa, principal of New York-based Datanomy Group, which creates meaningful healthcare IT programs, including data aggregation, for medical centers. You want to be ahead of it, creating a more efficient hospital out of the EMR system youre spending so much money on. This may seem like a stretch.After all, Sessa says that most providers in private practice already feel overwhelmed by the push to install electronic health records. They simply want to practice medicine, not deal with data aggregation. But if you find the right person on your team or hire the right additional staff it could save you money in the long run. Outsource or Staff Up? If youre a small medical practice, hiring another person may not be possible as data analyst. So should you outsource? Garzone doesnt think so. The data, he says, often means nothing if the staff isnt motivated to act on it. And that takes someone on staff to explain why it matters beyond the fact that it will save you money. When data quality initiatives come out of IT, theyre seen as an IT thing, he says. Ideally, you need someone whos part of the organization to drive quality. They have to not only perform the role of data analysis, they have to be an evangelist for it. Finding a Data Analyst The good news is that your data analyst might already be on staff. Look to department managers and the quality department first, says Garzone. The quality department gets this, he says. Theyve been doing this for a while now, but on paper. These may be nurse case managers who deal with quality issues every day. Or, alternately, it may be lab techs who are accustomed to using data tools, or pharmacy managers who understand the clinical side but have a mind for data. The key is finding someone who can think deductively and identify patterns in what seem like random events. How to Hire a Data Analyst Sessa, who hires data analysts for her company, confirms that the best approach is to look for someone whos familiar with data and medicine. They might have a background like hers, in biomedical engineering. Or they might have a background in medicine, with an interest in statistics. Then, ask them the preemie question. Or something like it. Ill ask, How would you go about figuring out how many MMs it would take to fill a three-story building? Or ask, How would you figure out how many coffee shops there are in the US? she says. Or, If I told you that 60 percent of the women in an area have premature babies, how would you go about figuring out why that is? If the candidate starts running through data points race, median income, smoking habits, asbestos, etc. she knows she has a winner. Its not about the finite answer, she says. Its to see the deductive reasoning and logic they use to work through the problem to a solution. Im always looking for the question, the data point that someone else might not think of. Read more about healthcare hiring trends: Five Ways to Improve your Healthcare Hiring Process IT Staffing for Healthcare: Recruiting for HITECH Healthcare Recruiting Solutions