Integrating and Managing Healthcare Data: The New Frontier

Featured image by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash

There has been an explosion of data in the modern world in the last few years. Its proper management and analysis are likely to become an integral component for competition, as it underpins innovation, consumer surplus, and productivity growth in every sector. Data in the healthcare industry is no exception.

After all, lengthy waiting times ultimately cost more lives. Fortunately, with the integration of data, organizations can become better able to deliver a greater level of accessible care. This can also improve HIPAA compliance automation with the right solutions supporting its use. Further, this safeguards health information in the process.

This might sound a bit scary to you, but it is crucial to have adequate measures to safeguard patients’ data. That is why it is essential to have a HIPAA-compliant email service, for example. Right now, you should be asking yourself the million-dollar question: Is Gmail HIPAA compliant?

No workload is more critical or sensitive than healthcare. As technology drives and transforms daily services, it’s vital to maintain uptime now more than ever.

By integrating and managing healthcare data through solutions that enable remote access, healthcare facilities like hospitals are able to deliver essential services with no downtime. Moreover, priorities are shifting to the improvement of organizational efficiencies in order to shorten waiting times for patients and turbocharge care. Therefore, it’s imperative they choose partners who offer trusted technology to help carry the burden.

Applications of Data in Healthcare

No one can deny the importance of data in healthcare. Here are some potential applications of data in the sector:

Improving Predictions for Better Staffing

One of the classic challenges that shift managers face in the healthcare industry is knowing the number of people to have on staff in any given period of time. Those who are overstaffed risk running unnecessarily high labor costs. Understaffing could lead to poor service quality outcomes.

We all understand how fatal this can be. The good news is, through the proper use of data, hospitals can create hourly and daily predictions of when they expect patients to arrive. A key data set would be a decade’s worth of admission records. Then, through techniques in analyzing time series, it’s possible to see patterns to prepare for future admission rates.

Enhancing Patient Engagement

Most people already have applications in their smart devices with the ability to monitor certain healthcare data. This might be their heart rates, following their steps, and keeping abreast of their sleeping habits. All the information that these software programs produce could be paired with trackable data for the purpose of identifying potential health risks.

Accessibility of Electronic Records

The most common application of data in healthcare comes in the form of electronic records. This refers to the digital information of a patient that includes their medical history, allergies, and laboratory results, to name a few. These records are generally in secure systems and are available only to relevant personnel. Apart from accessibility, the main advantage of having electronic records is that they can trigger reminders or warnings, allowing medical professionals to better care for their patients.

Data Management and Integration: The Next Frontiers in Healthcare

Data management and integration are the next frontiers for the healthcare industry. The advantages this unexplored territory yields won’t just help improve operational productivity and efficiency—they can also help save lives. For this reason, all organizations in the sector must begin adopting better tools today.