Healthcare Analytics & Fire Fighters
Ever heard of an insurance company hiring fire fighters?
If you’re like me, probably not. But that changed last year when I heard about what was happening in Idaho’s premier ski resort in Sun Valley.
I must admit that I haven’t skied in Sun Valley, but I have family who has, and they absolutely love the place. So when I learned about a looming, disastrous fire, I couldn’t help but jump on Google and look into it. I was surprised to learn that a few insurance companies went out and contracted fire fighters to protect some expensive homes from the rising flames.
Talk about proactive.
This proactive approach reminds me of the weekly conversations we at KLAS have with healthcare providers who are trying to get ahead of the inferno (or sometimes so-thought-of) of healthcare payment reform. Some of the fires that providers are facing today relate to shrinking reimbursements, new reporting regulations from the government, and demanding requirements for better clinical quality and outcomes.
In a similar way to how some insurance companies hired and relied on fire fighters for help in Sun Valley, healthcare providers are quickly and fervently turning to healthcare BI/analytics products for insights into and understanding of their data so they can assess financial risks and measure (and improve) the quality of care.
But finding the right vendor partner(s) for this is no easy task.
That’s partly because the burning flames coming from swift changes in business models and reimbursements mean that providers need solutions and answers fast. This in turn leads many to think differently about vendor products, often prompting a search for prebuilt BI/analytics solutions that meet healthcare-specific needs (i.e., healthcare-specific models, content, and metrics).
With the flames getting bigger and hotter, perceptions in the market about traditional BI vendors are changing, and newer, healthcare-specific analytics firms are on the rise. Like insurance companies eager to avoid huge losses, healthcare providers are open to finding new ways and approaches to move forward with BI in a world of value-based care.
Check out the new KLAS report “Healthcare Analytics Perception 2014: Analytics for Value-Based Care—A New Paradigm” to see which vendor products/solutions are being considered most—and why.