Informatics - Getting there

Ok, So I didn't get to post this last week. I was attending the HIMSS 09 in Chicago. Great city! Great Conference. If you haven't attended one, then you should. So you have decided to take the next step in process improvements and improve quality of care ( if you are a hospital ) and reduce cost of healthcare. Everyone is touting a product or service that will help you get there. But what do you need to know so you can choose the right vendor, the right technology etc? Here is what:

#1. METRIC
"Measure Everything That Really Impacts Customers". I didn't say this. I heard it at HIMSS. I couldn't agree more. Define your measures. Your customers could be internal or external. So, identify your customers, ask them what measures are important to them and capture them. The better understanding of your metrics and what you want to do with it, the easier your informatics initiative will be. Mind you, over 60% of Datawarehousing and Business Intelligence projects fail or do not meet expectations. So when I say that it is key to define your measures before you even go at it, I really really mean it!

#2. Failure of DW/BI Projects
So why do so many of them fail? Experts have studied and studied and come up with several reasons for this. I am not going to go into all of them here. But I will talk about one fundamental thing that is key here. A lot of organizations will treat a datawarehousing and business intelligence intiatives as two different projects. In my humble opinion, that is the wrong approach. It should be treated as one "Information Delivery" initiative. After all, it is the data that adds value to the business. So, the steps should be:

1. Gather requirements ( define your measures )
2. Design your entire information delivery platform based on that (reporting, warehouse, ETL, DataModels and everything else in between)
   
3. Build
4. Test
5. Deploy
   

It is one project folks. If you don't have your measures, your warehouse is not going to have the data needed to support the reporting. Your reports are as important as your ETL process.

#3. Select your Partner
I don't like the word Vendor when it comes to working with our clients. It is truly a Partnership that defines that relationship. If you fail, we fail and vice versa. The first partner you select is your own IT department. They are the ones who are going to manage this initiative, deliver it and then support it when the external partner is gone. It is imperative to get them involved from the get go. When looking for an external partner, look for a company who can advise you on tools and technologies first (mind you, don't select your tools before you know your requirements). Your own IT department can help you with this. Of course, experience is important. Look for companies that will give you the same resources that they bring to the table in their first meeting. Often times, they will "sell" you with their best resources and once the contract is signed, switch resources on you. Insist on the best.

Next week: Tools & Technologies

Health Informatics in plain English

Lesson #1. It's the Data!

So, if you have any doubts as to what that statement means, here it is. It is the data that is of value to the business. Yes, I said business. Unless you work for a software making mega corporation whose revenues come from the software you make, you are nothing but a cost center and the only way you are going to add value to your organization is by "saving" the "business" money. Now that we are clear about us IT folks' role, let me explain the rule I mentioned above. The only thing that adds value to the business is timely delivery of "good quality" information, so they can make intelligent decisions. "Data becomes information, then knowledge, then value".

Lesson #2. ETL, BI, DW, Semantics, Metadata, mart, cube, ontology etc. etc.

If you are a business person trying to make decisions on process improvements or looking to reduce the cost of healthcare coverage, this should all be gobblygook to you.

In fact, the next time one of us IT folks tells you that you can't have your data because of any of the above said acronyms or any other new reason that doesn't make sense to you, please feel free to whack us with whatever is in your hand.

Lesson #3. Data Quality
How many times have you heard this phrase ..."we're having data quality issues..." or "data quality is our number one issue.."? Well, whack us IT folks again! Why? Because, simply put, it means "bad data" and it is our fault that we can't fix all the bad data flowing through the systems. Actually my IT bretheren, you can block this whack, because we didn't create the data. But we can definitely help scrub it. Again, the point being it is all about the data.

Lesson #4. Define your measures!
Here's where we IT folk have the upper hand. If you think you know what your measurements are, think again. If you think that number of surgeries done a day is a good performance measure for your employees, think again! Define your measures (Refer to lesson #1 if you have questions). Apply critical thinking to it. Then let us know which ones are the most important ones so you can make your intelligent decisions and keep more revenue coming in the pipeline so we don't go down like AIG! Phew, that took a long breath. In fact, defining your measure should be your first priority when undertaking any Informatics initiative. If you have your measures defined, then all the acronyms & terms in lesson #2 will fall into place.

Lesson #5. Tools, platforms and appliances!
This should be the last of your concerns. Again, refer to lesson #1 if you have any questions. Tools are a way to do things. One may be better than the other depending on your current infrastructure and investments. But remember, once you know exactly what you want, tools become just that. Tools selected to do a particular job.

Next week: How to get there