Medicine is a generator of large amounts of information, from clinical indicators to financial ones. Health care creates more than 30% of all existing data, and they need to be analyzed constantly by many metrics. Analytics helps ensure timely and competent treatment of patients, notice and respond to critical points in time, pay special attention to complex cases and reduce their number in the future. It is important to use it both in public and private medical institutions.
Why do doctors need data analytics
Big data in medicine allows you to more accurately diagnose, predict the course of diseases, personalize treatment and much more.
Analytics tools can be used to track progress towards strategic goals, manage costs and control cash flow, improve the quality and safety of medical care.
In addition, analytics enable private and public health organizations to collect, organize, analyze, and submit data to inspection authorities, reducing the likelihood of receiving sanctions or penalties for non-compliance.
What data do medical institutions work with
First of all, these are the results of patient examinations, diagnostic recommendations, appointments, health records – data that is recorded by the doctor at each stage of admission. They can be both in electronic or handwritten form, in the format of texts, video files, pictures, etc. Also, clinics always have a large flow of financial indicators, scientific publications, clinical recommendations, which are also considered medical data, and they need to be taken into account.
For transfer to various registers and information systems, such data are drawn up in structured electronic medical documents (EDMS), having a certain format and clear structure.
Analytics for quality health care
Data analysis allows health authorities and medical institutions to budget and plan medical care competently, studying statistics and making management decisions based on real clinical indicators. This helps to best allocate resources, modify standards and recommendations for a specific region, strengthen preventive measures for various diseases, and identify them at an early stage.
Thanks to various analytics tools, managers at all levels can collect and analyze indicators to assess the effectiveness of medical institutions, and then optimize business processes, improve the organization of work in the field. For example, data analysis allows you to track in time the lack of specialists or the increased load on existing doctors and then adjust appointment schedules.
Specialist doctors, relying on analytics, can collect a portfolio for accreditation for a category, more accurately diagnose and select treatment within the framework of recommendations, predicting the course of diseases.
Statistical doctors, based on analytical data, prepare reports for public agencies on the work of the medical institution. They form the basis of all public health and social statistics.
Analytics Challenges
Due to the specifics of the industry, working with data is fraught with a number of difficulties. In addition to issues of privacy and security, numerous disparate sources, large volumes and the complexity of task control, experts are faced with the fact that:
- Many data in medicine are collected on outdated documents, in addition, when new information is added, the previous one is not deleted or updated. A lot of legislative work is needed to abolish the collection of archaic and unnecessary indicators.
- The quality of the data often also raises questions, and not always the numbers displayed in the statistics have something in common with the real situation. In this case, they are not suitable for management decisions. The problem can be solved by canceling KPIs for analytics, so that institutions do not chase specific indicators stated by their superior managers, but simply do their job with high quality.
- Data is not analyzed at the level where it is needed. Since the EDMS are transferred today to the Unified Public Information System, large-scale analytics should be conducted primarily at this level, and not at every stage of data collection.
What analytical tools are used by doctors
Various analytics systems help to collect and process data. They enable users to generate quickly the necessary slices, detailed reports, visualization allows you to see critical moments and complex cases, understand the reasons for their appearance and take the necessary measures to eliminate them.
Until recently, Power BI, SAP, IBM and other large vendors of analytics systems were present on the Russian market. After their departure, only relatively young Russian BI platforms remained, but none of them were sharpened for medical activities.
Analytics tools can be implemented in the medical information system, because it collects the primary data, and the analytical module will allow you to process them, immediately without integration with third-party BI systems.
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Analytics helps to build the right business processes, and monitor metrics. Therefore, it should matter more than now, being configured very accurately.
And the specialists who analyze the data must understand what they are doing and why, be able to compare indicators for different periods and draw appropriate conclusions. Being a data analyst in medicine is a whole art of evaluating certain numbers and the ability to make deeper conclusions than the number of patients at the appointment.
By Vadim Zhuk, PhD in Medical Sciences, Medical Advisor, SP.ARM