Spring 2015 issue of Horizons

HEALTHCARE

How Data is Changing the Healthcare Industry by Josh Leesmann

T he availability of information in the form of health care data is growing at unprecedented rates, spurred by federal incentives to adopt electronic records. This availability has prompted a new focus on developing data-driven solutions for the industry. The hope is that increased transparency and information sharing will be leveraged to increase the efficiency and quality of care provided to patients. In addition, the healthcare industry is rapidly moving to a system in which payments to providers are made based on quality instead of the fee-for-service model that has been the backbone of our healthcare system for so long.

For instance, accountable care organizations (ACOs) are one reimbursement model that use quality metrics to drive payments to providers. These new models focus on population health management and data is the key to understanding the population and the group’s ability to impact the healthcare of the population. As a result, healthcare data is becoming more critical to the successful delivery of healthcare in our country. Data Management However, healthcare organizations still struggle to standardize and share the volumes of data collected with each other. As an answer to these challenges, some

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