Healthcare Data Modernization: The Importance of Having a Modern Data Platform

Data and analytics capabilities are no longer “nice to have” for healthcare organizations; they are a necessity. Below are a few reasons as to why healthcare data modernization is critically important for your organization today:

• A modern data platform (MDP) helps you govern, modernize, manage, and optimize your data and analytics ecosystem for better, high-impact business and clinical data insights.
• It gives your organization confidence in the quality of data you’re using for informed decision-making.
• Your organization can use the data that comes from a MDP to deeply understand and respond to your patients’ needs across your healthcare landscape.
• A MDP can allow your organization to continuously be innovative, and better meet each of the goals as outlined in IHI’s Triple Aim. 

Healthcare data is only going to become more complex. Whether we’re talking sheer volume of data or technological advances like  artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), getting your data under control now will be a key to facing the future of healthcare.  In the current healthcare environment, challenges to your healthcare data management might include:

• Healthcare data living in multiple places across different systems and departments, both from inside and outside of your organization, making it difficult to easily access and aggregate all that data to one, central location.
• New or existing business demands causing your organization to shift away from prioritizing managing your data.
• Non-technical users (i.e., leaders, nurses, physicians) needing access to your organization’s healthcare data.
• Not leveraging one’s healthcare data in meaningful ways, such as improving patient outcomes or strengthening communication ties between provider and patient.
• Speed and performance issues of your organization’s current legacy data management solutions not meeting demand.

Modernizing your data platform and strategy can help you prepare for the future of healthcare and eliminate blockers that prevent you from providing the highest standard of care to your patients. 

Although healthcare has always been an essential service, it is still a business at its core. Businesses are more and more turning to Data Governance as a data discipline to help better manage, leverage, and protect their data.  The data within our health systems is an asset that we simply cannot afford to mistakenly lose or mismanage. Including data governance tools and best practices as part of your modern data approach can provide your healthcare organization with knowledge on what data you have, who has responsibility for data-related decisions and overall improved data quality and trust in the data. Further, data governance includes data security and data privacy, which ensure that your data is kept secure, accurate, and accessible and follows the latest compliance laws.

Use Case: How to Create a Healthcare Cybersecurity Plan

What can you do next to make sure that your data is stored securely, retained properly, and managed effectively? Below are some of today’s data and analytics best practices of how you can leverage your data to its fullest potential:

• Assess Your Data: You need to recognize the true value of your organization’s data. Implement modernized systems that take a data-driven approach – systems that specifically know how much data you have within your organization and what would the financial impact be if you had to replace that data altogether.
• Manage Your Data: Put the right software, programs, and people in place that will proactively make an investment in caring for and maintaining your data.
• Optimize Your Data: You also need to know how your organization currently uses its data. And when it comes to data and analytics, you shouldn’t be just focused on the monetary benefits it brings, such as reducing your operational costs. It is just as equally important to optimize your data so that you can maximize your services, ultimately improving the quality of care and lives for your providers and patients. 

Turning to experts that design data systems day in and day out can be a good place to start. CDW’s Data and Analytics professionals equip more than 15,000 healthcare organizations and senior care facilities with the technology and agility to thrive. Our experts can also help your organization build a modern data platform to your exact specifications and find the most efficient ways to glean and act on insights from your data.

To successfully handle your organization’s exponentially growing volume of data, you need to have a robust data and analytics strategy in place and leave behind the communication lags and operational silos. Count on CDW’s Healthcare IT Solutions experts to combine state-of-the-art technology with high-level data management tools to streamline your organization’s workflow and improve quality of care.