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Delivering Real-Time Analysis Is Top Tactical Challenge in Analytics, Healthcare Execs Say

Analysis  |  By Jonathan Bees  
   December 17, 2019

Delivering timely analysis is important in healthcare generally and critically important in acute care.

According to healthcare leaders in the November/December 2019 HeathLeaders Intelligence Report, Investing For the Future: Analytics, AI, and ROI, the top three tactical challenges in performing analytics over the next three years are the need to deliver timely analysis (48%), overcoming insufficient skills in analytics (46%), and insufficient funding in light of other priorities (37%).

Interestingly, analytics technology sourcing and implementation is generally not a problem for respondents, but the human elements of its use, such as skills and staffing, can be.

Delivering timely analysis is especially important in healthcare generally and critically important in acute care.

Todd Stewart, MD, vice president of clinical integrated solutions and clinical informatics at Mercy Technology Services, the IT division of St. Louis–based Mercy, an integrated health system that includes more than 40 hospitals, 900 physician practices and outpatient facilities, and more than 45,000 employees, points out that an additional dimension of this challenge is where the analysis is actually delivered in the workflow.

"The other part to this challenge is the delivery of the actual insight," says Stewart. "If somebody has to go outside of their typical workflow to get it, there is potential for it to be over-looked. As an example, you could have a really great sepsis algorithm that is predicting things perfectly, but if you deliver it out of context or out of the workflow, it's going to be tough to get the impact you need."

Financial constraints also play a role in tactical challenges. Notably, two of the top three tactical challenges are either indirectly or directly related to financial resources—the solution to solving insufficient skills in analytics is further investment in training or adding analytics staff, and insufficient funding in light of other priorities needs no explanation. In addition, the fourth item on the list is insufficient staff, a challenge that also requires financial resources.

Analytics development

Respondents in our HealthLeaders Intelligence Reports (no matter the topic) consistently report that improving quality care and outcomes at their organizations is their No. 1 concern, and this analytics report is no different—62% of them say that clinical best practices is the most promising area of analytics development. Real-time delivery of actionable information (54%) and population health data (44%) complete the list of the top three most promising areas.

To download the full November/December 2019 HealthLeaders Intelligence Report, click here.

 

Jonathan Bees is a research analyst for HealthLeaders.


KEY TAKEAWAYS

A new HealthLeaders Intelligence Report reveals that the top three tactical challenges for healthcare executives in performing analytics over the next three years is timely analysis, insufficient skills, and lack of funding.

The report also finds that 62% of healthcare leaders say that clinical best practices is the most promising area of analytics development.


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