Why Informatics?

Now that I am back from a little time off, let's look at the very basic question, Why Informatics? How does this work in healthcare? What are the reasons why I should even think about it? And I am over the subject of the cloud, just so you know.

Savings!!
If you are seriously considering reducing cost of care, the only way to do it is through knowledge. I mean, knowledge of your business. What are my central line infection rates? What is the average waiting time for my patients? What is the average bed occupancy rates? Having answer to these questions and many more will help you produce an effective strategy to make your business more efficient. Efficiency will then translate to savings. We all know that.

Legislation/Compliance!
If you are not already on top of this, please take some time to read through it. You will avoid a lot of heartache down the line. ARRA has some 20 odd measures that you have to report on. With penalties associated with it, if you don't comply. But other than that, when you are looking at an informatics solution, you should probably think ahead to more than just those measures and how implementing a comprehensive solution will affect the bottom line of the business. Also, you could be missing out on the Medicaid funding allocated to provider organizations under the ARRA. $2-$8M allocated for hospitals and $44K allocated for individual physicians. ROI is very evident.

That's about it.