Bridging the Chasm: Analytics and Operations
Integrating technical expertise with business decision-making is a strategic necessity in the dynamic healthcare sector. We work with various physician groups that are data-rich but often lack actionable insights. 47% of data is underutilized in healthcare decision-making1. The problem usually isn't their technical capabilities but a lack of collaboration between technical and operations teams. Without this cooperation, frustration arises on all sides. Technical teams (IT and data analytics) struggle to manage the surge of reporting requests. In contrast, business operations teams feel overlooked or perceive a lack of subject matter expertise from the technical teams. The traditional siloed approach is a competitive disadvantage. Today, it's crucial to include technical teams in strategic discussions to create a progressive and efficient healthcare environment supported by reliable data.
The Critical Role of Technical Teams Working in Collaboration with Operations to Drive Unbiased Decision-Making
Mastery of Complex Technologies: The healthcare sector increasingly depends on sophisticated technologies, ranging from comprehensive electronic health records (EHRs) to AI-powered diagnostic tools. Collaboration between technical teams and operations ensures that decisions are grounded in technical feasibility and operational needs. Technical teams provide invaluable insights into these technologies' practicalities, potential applications, and constraints. At the same time, operations can articulate how these insights are incorporated into daily workflows and organizational goals.
Advancing Data-Driven Insights: In modern healthcare, data is a fundamental asset. Technical teams with data analysis and interpretation expertise are pivotal in connecting disparate data sources and transforming intricate data into actionable insights. Combined with operations input, this expertise is crucial for establishing realistic performance indicators and making informed decisions to enhance patient care and operational efficiency.
Predictive Analytics and Future Planning: Analytics is not just about diagnosing the past and understanding the present; it should also forecast future trends and challenges. Operational teams can inform technical teams on use cases, such as which patients are likely to no-show next week. This foresight is invaluable in strategic planning, helping healthcare organizations maintain or enhance their competitive advantage.
Catalyzing Innovation: Technical teams are frequently the vanguard of innovation within organizations. Involving these teams in strategic discussions can harness their inventive problem-solving capabilities, leading to the development of novel solutions that advance the standards of patient care and organizational operations. This innovation value-add only increases when they are working collaboratively with operational teams.
Risk Management and Mitigation: Identifying and managing risks is paramount in an environment where decisions can have profound implications on patient health. Technical teams are critical in detecting potential operational processes and patient care risks, allowing for proactive management.
Case Study: Embedded Analytics to Improve Drive Insights to Revenue Cycle Operations
Ancore Health helped Apricot Health System2(AHS) by facilitating this technical and operations partnership. AHS, an employed multispecialty physician group with approximately 1,200 providers, generates over $550M in patient net revenue across 160 locations. The employed medical group revenue cycle management team, utilizing Epic and Tableau as their practice management and visualization platforms, sought to evolve their performance reporting. However, the technical teams had limited bandwidth to develop the necessary suite of revenue cycle analytics.
Ancore encouraged both teams to work together and avoid the temptation to create a siloed solution or purchase additional software. As an extension of the technical and revenue cycle teams, Ancore provided the support needed to advance their analytics needs within the AHS data environment while ensuring appropriate controls were in place. This partnership eliminated the need for a third-party data warehouse, created a centralized documentation source for data definitions, and automated calculations previously performed in Excel. This process fostered mutual appreciation between the technical and revenue cycle management teams for their respective domains, along with confidence that the revenue cycle analytics platform is scalable for growth. The revenue cycle reporting platform included the following views: executive, front-end, middle, and back-end. All reporting is being used today for management reporting and with the respective domain leaders to identify areas of opportunity and celebrate success.
Bridging the Chasm
To optimize the benefits of technical and operations collaboration, healthcare organizations should:
Promote Cross-Functional Collaboration: Eliminate barriers between technical and operational teams by bringing both to the same table. Foster a culture of open communication and shared learning. Create platforms where technical, operations, and strategy teams can collaborate effectively. This collaboration ensures that decisions are both data-driven and aligned with organizational goals.
Invest in Comprehensive Education: Provide cross-disciplinary training to technical and non-technical staff, cultivating a baseline understanding of each domain. For example, this may include training on data metric definitions and potential use cases of how data metrics are used to advance strategic and operational goals.
Prioritize Data-Driven Culture: Cultivate a culture where data-driven insights are valued and form the backbone of operational and strategic decisions. Ensure that all levels of the organization appreciate the importance of analytics and understand how the areas they are responsible for connect to the organizational goals.
The synergies gained between technical prowess, and operational acumen is imperative for navigating the complexities of contemporary healthcare. They enable organizations to spearhead innovation, elevate patient care, and attain sustained growth and operational excellence in an ever-evolving healthcare landscape. Without this collaboration, organizations risk being data-rich but information-poor.
Curious about how to get your technical and strategy teams on the same page? Contact us!
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1 https://arcadia.io/resources/underutilized-healthcare-data
2 Apricot Health System is a pseudonym
