2014 Healthcare Analytics Review

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‘Fragmented, rudimentary and not yet fit for purpose’

Procurement in the healthcare analytics industry has always been a challenge. Most NHS trusts are persisting with their legacy systems due to the number of risk factors associated with upgrading and updating their systems. However, this fear of change and assumption that tried and tested is the best solution has resulted in a lack of ambition in analytics procurement – and recent reports have shown the consequences it’s had throughout the healthcare sector.

We’ve already touched on the ‘Big Data Buzz’, but it is by no means a negative descriptor for analytics. The focus is on the wrong solution – it’s not about having the biggest data, it’s about turning said data into actionable information, efficiently and without a bureaucratic process to go through. Disparate data sources need aggregation with new technology, but new technology requires training, procurement processes, and can result in a shakeup in an already shaky NHS. So the focus has been on cost-reduction through other methods whilst NHS trusts are continuing with their legacy systems.

The rest of the world is seeing a large increase in efficiency across the board with big data analytics whilst the NHS remains trapped in the corporate bureaucracy of legacy software and arduous procurement processes.

So what are the benefits of big data analytics and why should the NHS change their priority? Look no further than the recent 2014 NHS Healthcare Report…

The report predicts the following savings if analytics is properly implemented and correctly aligned within healthcare:

  • £840 million a year due to reduction in A&E attendances
  • £200 million savings through reduced complications with patients who have Diabetes
  • £126 million per year through better care management for patients with COPD
  • £5 billion saving of staff time through more efficient working practices
  • Up to £126 million through reducing readmission rates

There has been constant increase in alcohol related NHS admissions over the last decade, reaching almost 10 million patients during 2012-13, and costing the NHS an estimated £3.5bn a year. The population and average life expectancy has been increasing with patients now surviving illnesses that would have been a death sentence twenty years ago. There has been a sharp increase in A&E visits, with hospitals this winter nearly buckling over the constant pressure on staff. An NHS director recently slammed the current analytics setup within Healthcare labelling it as ‘fragmented, rudimentary and not yet fit for purpose’.

An upgrade in the NHS’s analytics techniques and solutions will help reduce and mitigate the ever expanding number of difficulties facing our health service.   For what is a relatively small opportunity cost, the opportunity lost is in the billions.

What the NHS needs is a solution that is both quick and easy to implement yet robust and agile, able to adapt to the challenges that lie ahead, whilst empowering non-technical analysts to self-serve within a universal platform for uniting disparate data sources in an easy to digest format…

CXAIR is a search-based analytics solution built primarily to turning disparate data sources into actionable information. By using CXAIR, users at all levels of an organisation will have an improved understanding of their function or business area and be able to make informed decisions, and take action to improve both the quality and performance of the services being provided.

CXAIR plays a major role in helping the NHS deliver the required efficiency saving but without compromising patient safety, outcomes or quality of service. Data analytics helps with risk stratification, prevention, anticipation of medical conditions and disease prevention through identification of key risk factors. CXAIR being self-service frees up IT resources to allow GPs and Consultants to do this analysis, increasing efficiency and potential for immediate patient care, whilst drastically reducing IT and administration costs.

We at Connexica are founded by healthcare analytic professionals and have built our product CXAIR from the ground-up to solve the challenges of the NHS. We dispense with OLAP cubes and extended implementation procedures in favour of simple search engine-style Business Analytics.

2014 has been a poor year for the NHS and analytics. Next year there is potential for the game to change, for there to be a new age of IT in a sector that desperately needs an upgrade.

References

http://www.nationalhealthexecutive.com/The-Scalpels-Daily-Blog/hitting-the-bottle-is-hurting-the-nhs

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