Dive Brief:
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Few healthcare organizations trust in their own data, Dimensional Insight found in a new survey, though leaders plan to increase investments to improve confidence in data and self-service capacities.
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Dimensional Insight surveyed 85 chief information officers and other senior healthcare IT leaders, asking them to rate how strongly their user populations believe they can trust the data provided to make decisions on a 10-point scale. Less than half (48%) of respondents rated financial data an eight or above, while only 40% and 36% gave an eight or above for trust in clinical data and operational data, respectively.
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About three-quarters of organizations plan to increase money "to improve trust in data and self-service capabilities," Dimensional Insight said.
Dive Insight:
Healthcare organizations have to trust data, especially with a greater focus on value-based care. Bad data leads to bad decisions which can harm patient care, along with a provider's bottom line.
The Dimensional Insight report said the move to value-based care will require more collaboration among multiple parts of the healthcare company. However, most systems are not ready for that transition yet.
"This survey demonstrated that healthcare organizations have a long way to go in developing rock-solid trust in their data and self-service access to it," Dimensional Insight said.
Concerning how much healthcare leaders trust their data, the average result was seven out of a scale of one to 10. More than half rated data at seven or below.
Healthcare leaders know they have an issue. The survey said 76% of respondents planned to increase investment to improve clinical data trust, 70% planned to invest in financial data trust and 77% for operational data. No respondent plans to curtail investment in those areas.
Also, 78% said they plan to expand investment toward clinical self-service analytics, while 21% expected their spend to remain the same. When it comes to financial self-service analytics, 68% plan to increase while 30% said they'll keep the same investment. About three-quarters said they plan to increase operational self-service analytics.
"Of course there are limits to how much visibility a healthcare organization will want to provide, especially given regulatory implications. That's where a robust analytics architecture comes in, helping your organization to be selectively transparent and protective of data at the same time," Dimensional Insight said.
As payers continue to push value, providers will need to make sure data is accurate as possible so they're not losing money from services provided.
Physicians are already concerned about how alternative payment models may lead to taking on more risk. A recent report by Health Care Payment Learning and Action Network said that slightly more than a third of all healthcare payments in 2017 involved APMs. However, 41% of healthcare payments are still going to fee-for-service only care.