HealthLeaders panel: Finance leaders share how they are unlocking the potential of analytics, making it more accessible and actionable to achieve that elusive ROI
In healthcare, integrating consistent and effective data-driven decision-making across an organization comes with its own challenges. From ensuring data accuracy at the outset to seamlessly integrating information across systems, people, and workflows, the goal is to build trust—not break it.
Reaching the point where you can count on reliable data to drive most decisions starts with a solid foundation and a clear end goal. Healthcare leaders need to know how data will be consumed and interpreted while ensuring their organizational culture is ready for the shift. “If the data's wrong, or if it's not consistently available, it will sabotage any effort to have sustainable use of that data,” said Pat Keel, chief administrative and financial officer at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
In a recent HealthLeaders panel sponsored by Strata Decision Technology, Keel joined Bob Flannery, SVP and chief financial officer at UW Health, and Matt Hill, director of services for Strata Decision Technology, to discuss strategies for investing in and implementing healthcare analytics. Their conversation covered everything from data integration to real-time insights.
Driving data adoption and accessibility
From the start, the panel stressed the importance of prioritizing data analytics, especially as health systems allocate resources to critical areas like the workforce, clinical care, and revenue cycle. "We hear a lot about resource allocation, even on the nursing units," said Hill with Strata. "We are helping our customers make those decisions closer to real time." He added that leadership collaboration across information technology (IT), data governance, and clinical areas is critical when implementing real-time analytics and reporting to make sure you are building from a strong foundation.
At UW Health, data oversight is now a standard leadership responsibility. "We’ve built a data mart that elevates expectations at the senior leadership level not to make decisions in a vacuum," said Flannery. To further improve data access, the organization assigns finance business partners familiar with analytics tools and data marts to various departments, including nursing, ambulatory care, and administration.
At St. Jude, data projects are prioritized based on risk and potential outcomes, and they are overseen by executive and data analytics councils, Keel explained. "They prioritize where we’ll get the biggest bang," she said. Transparency and education are key to ensuring leaders use the tools effectively. St. Jude also reviews tool usage annually to address any underutilization.
Hill pointed out that having on-demand or self-service analytics is another way to bridge gaps and drive adoption. By engaging stakeholders and leaders early on, organizations can align on key metrics and accountability targets. Building these expectations into self-service capabilities ensures the data are always accessible, reducing the need for manual report requests, he said.
The power of now
The group also discussed how analytics are solving major challenges, reducing manual processes, and offering real-time insights. While many organizations rely on retroactive reporting, the real value comes from predictive insights. "Adoption unlocks the whole purpose of reporting and analytics—to percolate insights to the top so leaders don't have to sift through tons of data," Hill said.
Flannery and Keel both stressed the importance of real-time data for faster decision-making. Keel said that St. Jude's new electronic health record (EHR) and cloud-based platform have made real-time data more accessible for daily operations. "For example, we review a lot of our rev cycle dashboards in morning huddles to decide where the focus needs to be and what's going well and what's not," she said.
Flannery added that timely data is also invaluable in areas like staffing, allowing leaders to adjust nursing levels on a given shift in response to changing patient volumes. He also emphasized the role of automation in increasing efficiencies and reducing manual workloads, such as providing automated reporting.
Cracking cost control and ROI
With cost control a high-priority area for healthcare organizations, comparative benchmarking data are quite useful. Cost data is essential when designing clinical trials at St. Jude. Keel highlighted the importance of using data to closely monitor environmental changes and contract negotiations with drug companies. “The data have helped us be better prepared as we initiate some of the trials,” she said. Additionally, St. Jude is using data to weigh the costs and benefits of remote work versus on-site staffing, noting savings in turnover and building costs.
Organizations also are using statistical data to pinpoint variations across service delivery, providers, and departments. "We see a lot of opportunity in leveraging external benchmarks to help organizations identify where they are overspending and where they may need to adjust resources to stay competitive," Hill said.
The discussion also touched on the importance of measuring ROI from analytics programs. While traditional ROI measures, like net present value, are key, there are also valuable, harder-to-quantify outcomes, such as using analytics to identify optimal growth opportunities. “Before data marts, there were lots of manual processes and assumptions,” Flannery said. “Now, we have better information to support decision-making.”
Winning with analytics
Achieving success in analytics hinges on consistent communication and transparency, particularly when it comes to data integrity, integration, and change management. Hill emphasized that tying data strategies to specific initiatives fosters organic adoption. As technology evolves, faster data integration becomes more achievable. “It’s important to work with a tech partner who understands this and can help your organization capitalize on improving access to timely information,” Hill said.