Next-Gen Health Analytics Requirements Unclear

20 Tests Healthcare CIOs Must Juggle

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Healthcare leaders know they will need new sorts of analytics to keep pace with structural changes in the market, but they are less certain what technologies they will need or where to get them. For a research report on analytics geared specifically to new accountable care and value-based business models for healthcare, KLAS Research started with an open-ended question on what vendors were top of mind, addressed to 109 decision makers from provider organizations, 65% of whom serve in a C-level role.

Vendors mentioned most often were Optum, McKesson, The Advisory Board, SAP, Epic, IBM, Cerner, Oracle, Health Catalyst, and Siemens -- but none is in a dominant position. "While healthcare provider mindshare is more pronounced with these vendors than the other 77 mentioned in the research, it should be noted that no vendor received more than 7% of all mentions," the report notes.

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"In terms of using analytics for how to deliver better care, people are looking a lot of different directions and ways to look at this," the report's author, Joe Van De Graaff, says in an interview. "There's no one single vendor that comes up repeatedly and regularly who is top of mind."

KLAS has produced several previous surveys on the use of business intelligence (BI) and analytics software, but none quite as focused as this, he says.

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"Accountable care is a new frontier for many healthcare providers," Van De Graff says. ACOs are organized to profit most when they maximize the quality of care they can deliver for the lowest cost. Medicare and private payers are using this ACO model to reverse the fee-for-service incentives that have driven overuse of healthcare because each test, procedure, or office visit can be billed separately.

Most organizations "are still trying to figure out the metrics, the KPIs, the costs" most relevant to helping "operationalize performance for ACOs," he says. "In this market, we're seeing some shifting momentum where it's not

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