Joining up health systems: Making the most of all that data

FEATURE - Industry Innovation Article - Orion Health

With the convergence of healthcare and technology, health systems are generating more data than ever. Add into the mix outputs from the current Covid-19 pandemic, combined with new innovations at scale, such as telehealth and remote patient monitoring; the global healthcare industry is now the fastest-growing data source in the world.

However, what valuable insights can be generated by these data sources if they are not connected and interoperable but rather stored and operated in silos?

For most healthcare providers, networks and health systems, data about the patient population exists in a range of electronic systems across different organisations and locations. This means patients often have to provide information multiple times, can be subjected to duplication of consultations and assessments, and it means clinical teams aren’t being provided with the information they need to provide the highest possible quality of care.

It also means there is a missed opportunity when it comes to leveraging all of that data and utilising it to gain valuable insights, make predictions and ultimately improve population health outcomes.

Aggregating high-quality, meaningful data
A rich patient data set is the backbone of advanced population health. An open ecosystem that facilitates the creation of a complete Electronic Health Record (EHR) for patients enables clinicians to make better-informed diagnoses and efficiently manage an entire population.

The fundamental goal of an EHR system is to create a longitudinal patient record with full information about patients across all aspects of care including their demographic details, clinical history, medication list, radiology history, diagnostic investigations, procedures and encounters with the healthcare system. Providing clinicians with access to this type of clinical information – accessible regardless of location – means care revolves around the patient and is based on a comprehensive understanding of their clinical situation.

Connecting up health and social data in one centralised repository enables information to be presented in a meaningful way to health providers and their clinicians who use it to access a complete picture of their patient’s health. It streamlines the often complicated processes involved when integrating data such as resolving discrepancies between systems, versions and infrastructure and enables data to flow more freely with fewer barriers to obtaining consent.

Aggregating data also opens up a world of possibilities when it comes to meaningfully understanding the data and leveraging it to improve care delivery. For example, using analytics to explore data sets efficiently, discovering meaningful insights and identifying gaps in care at both a population and individual level. You can also apply artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms to aggregate high-quality data in a population to make predictions and target resources where they are needed most.

Moving from viewing to doing
With high-quality aggregated data you can make the all-important transition from ‘viewing’ to ‘doing’ - where the world of software and information directly impacts the clinician and the patient. This could be through improved care coordination, avoiding wasteful care and using high-quality clinical workflow tools to standardise clinical pathways.

A well-designed and implemented EHR solution gives healthcare providers the right tools and actionable insights at the right time and place in their daily workflows. A crucial differentiator is being able to take the clinician seamlessly from a quality measure or other population-level analysis such as a risk score, to a shared worklist for a team to manage, to a specific care pathway for each patient.

At this individual patient level, you can then dig deeper into the processes of care and surface relevant information to enable planning. This supports the creation of integrated care plans that are both consistent with the local best practice guidelines and individualised to meet the specific needs of each patient. You can also involve patients more meaningfully in their care. Empowering patients with tools such as a digital front door will enable them to play an active role in their own care and enter, generate or capture data that’s relevant from their perspective.

The power of data in a real-world context
Orion Health’s proven EHR solution, Amadeus, is the #1 choice for Health Information Exchanges across the globe. We have leveraged our core learnings from over 65 deployments across the UK, US, and the Middle East, to provide seamless data integration and access to all types of patient data in one place with a proven deployment model which increases time to value and mitigates risk.

An example of this in a real-world context is Malaffi HIE, the first Health Information Exchange (HIE) in the Middle East that went live in Abu Dhabi in July 2019. It recently reached the milestone of having 100% of Abu Dhabi-based public and private hospitals connected to the platform, in addition to the 1,100 clinical and medical centres and 380 pharmacies now connected. This means clinical staff have secure access to 559 million unique clinical records, helping them provide safer, more efficient, and coordinated care to patients.

You can read more here about how the Emirate leveraged the HIE in its response to COVID-19 to make well informed, fast decisions about patient risk levels, hospitalisation and isolation requirements, and make informed data-driven decisions about population health needs.

Advanced population health
This type of advanced population health can only be achieved via a comprehensive approach to all available data. Only then can we seek to understand the current state of the population and target patients who are most likely to benefit from a range of possible interventions.

With access to a comprehensive single view of patients, healthcare professionals across primary, secondary, and community care can collaborate using one shared care record and make more informed and clinically accurate decisions in a shorter time, ultimately providing better patient outcomes.

To learn more about Orion Health’s experience in joining up global health systems visit www.orionhealth.com.

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