This is great information...Now what do I do with it?

At Health Innovations, I have the privilege of working with some of the most forward thinking delivery systems in the country.

Whether I am talking to a CEO, CMO or CFO, I hear a common theme. “We have more data than we know what to do with, but it is scattered across the enterprise and we still can’t integrate or aggregate it so that we can see one, true picture of what is going on”. EMR data, Rx data, lab results, diagnostic test results, physician notes, nurse’s notes, and the list goes on.

I see delivery systems, payers and vendors who are building tools to integrate disparate data and create ways to view everything in context. But will spending millions of dollars on an Enterprise Data Warehouse solve the problem?

And while those EDWs are being built they are already worried about answering the next question, “What do I do with this information? How do I allocate scarce resources and try to reduce avoidable readmissions, ER visits, and other high utilization?"

For the first time since I founded Health Innovations, I recently became a principal in one of the companies I partner with, Forecast Health. Forecast Health builds predictive models to answer the next question:

“Will this patient have adequate care giver support when they are discharged?”

“Is this patient at risk for being non adherent on their medication or care plan?”

“Will this patient follow up as instructed with a primary care physician or clinic?”

Having all the clinical information at your fingertips is necessary but not sufficient to deliver population health. You also have to know who is at risk of falling through the cracks, why they are at risk, and how to mitigate that risk.

Systems have already spent lots of money and time on IT and EDWs. Forecast Health’s predictive analytics can answer these “next questions” relatively inexpensively and in a matter of weeks.

These are challenging times that require disruptive solutions.