What is Clinical Data Analytics?

With the current shift toward technology use in all sectors of healthcare, clinical data analytics is becoming an increasingly important market. A growing number of healthcare groups are looking to analytics solutions for effective client health management and more as clinical data and health records are going digital.

It’s important to understand exactly what this system of analytics is. We also need to know why it is beneficial in the healthcare field. It’s  essential to keeping up with current trends and most effectively supporting and providing patient care.

A Basic Definition

Health care analytics is a component of business marketing software and consulting services. It’s designed to facilitate important healthcare processes. This “product” is designed to catalogue patient information. It then analyzes it, statistically and qualitatively, to establish models for explaining current trends and predicting future trends. This sector of analysis is particularly important because it is used to drive medical decision making. The data provided through analysis is used to indicate:

  • gaps in care
  • problems with provision
  • opportunities for cost savings and management

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Primary Benefits of Health Care Analytics

Clinical data is commonly derived for a number of different sources. The primary information is pulled from:

  • health records
  • disease registries
  • patient surveys
  • information exchanges between providers

Effective clinical data analytics accesses the information. It presents information in a way that offers results that are more beneficial. It  assists in providing more specific care, especially to individuals with a diversified medical history. In reality, there are three primary ways data analytics is improving healthcare and even reducing the cost of care.

1. Health care analytics is making the shift from reactive care to preventive care.  Healthcare that is reactive, responding to an escalated, preexisting issue is more costly than taking preventive measures before the issue escalates. Historically, people only seek medical care when there is an issue or concern. However, analytics is shifting the face of healthcare. With the assistance of analytics, preventive care can be properly executed. For example, with preventive care, medical professionals can decrease the number of patients who seek care in the emergency room. This cuts costs for medical providers as well as patients. Analytics provides a risk percentage for a patient, which helps the medical professional determine what care needs to be provided to reduce the risk of further issue.

2. Analytics supports the application of evidence-based treatment.  With the shift to health information being documented electronically, hospitals and other medical providers are able to make timelier and more effective care decisions for patients. Having access to relevant historical information, care providers are able to reduce the risk of post-treatment problems, such as:

  • infection
  • reaction to medication, and more

Doing this reduces the cost both for providers and patients.

3. Health care analytics supports more individualized care.  In the past, patients have experienced issues with switching doctors and having to answer or undergo the same tests, questions, and even procedures time and again. With analytics, any provider has access to all of a patient’s information and history. The care is more personalized and less repetitive. Again, this saves both time and money for both parties involved.

Health care analytics is already changing the face of healthcare and has the potential to do so even more in the upcoming years. Clinical data analytics is an effective way to assess individual health information and provide the most personalized, effective care to save providers and patients time and money.