Plain Talk

There’s no shortage of news sharing the future of healthcare analytics, but without a little explanation this can be a puzzling phrase.

To help you better understand this growing segment, you must first understand what the many buzzwords and jargon mean.

Healthcare analytics, depending on who you ask, may also be referred to as patient analytics, big healthcare data, prescriptive analytics, patient data, big data analytics, consumer analytics, predictive analytics in healthcare, and the list goes on! But what do each of these terms mean?

What is healthcare analytics?
In a non‑clinical setting, healthcare analytics is the systematic examination of a health provider’s patient and facility data to identify, attract, and retain their most likely patients. This data is combined with large amounts of external consumer data to provide insights into everything from patient care to operations, growth strategies and marketing.

How is healthcare analytics data collected?
The most common types of data collected and analyzed include:

• Unit level data. Healthcare facilities will provide a variety of data points on specific units such as location, square footage, number of doctors, number of hospital beds, date established, date closed, monthly visit volume, etc.

• Basic patient data. This data is a high‑level overview of who your patients are such as distance traveled to a facility, service line visited (i.e., primary care, cardiology, emergency services, etc.), and frequency of visits. This information does not include detailed patient diagnosis data, as might be included in an electronic health record or EHR.

• Pipeline activity. What does your healthcare network have coming up? Are you planning to open a new facility? Just closed underperforming locations? Considering expanding your service line offering? This information will allow the healthcare analytics to prepare for what’s in your growth forecast.

This data is then combined with external consumer behavior data, and other relevant data specific to your facility, to help you guide your business decisions.

Why should I be using healthcare analytics?
Healthcare analytics insights take your decision making to the next level by addressing your most pressing business questions and applying data to provide actionable insights, with benefits such as:

• Create more efficiencies in how care is provided to your patients through service line optimization.

• Better allocate resources through understanding of who your best patients are and their likelihood to visit your existing or planned facilities.

• Reach more prospective patients through marketing that targets the consumers likely to use a service line or become a lifetime patient for your practice.

• Identify early warning signs of potential facility performance issues.

This is only a sampling of how your facility can leverage healthcare analytics to grow your practice.

What is the future of healthcare analytics?
Historically, the healthcare industry is slow to act, but is in a prime position to capitalize on data and analytics insights. The future of healthcare analytics will include even larger collections of data for healthcare organizations to navigate and manage. As new technologies emerge, and consumer demand for control over personal well-being increases, it will be evermore important to understand how best to navigate the competitive landscape and how to scale your data to keep it relevant.

Where can I get started with healthcare analytics?
Working with an experienced customer analytics partner can help you grow market share, improve facility performance and enhance your marketing now and into the future.

No matter how little or how much data you have, you can apply analytics to get the answers you need.

Buxton is the leading customer analytics firm that helps organizations identify who their customers are, where those customers are located, and the value those customers have to the organization.

2651 South Polaris Drive
Fort Worth, TX 76137
1-888-2BUXTON

buxtonco.com

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