When addressing EHR implementation and use, most organizations focus on the information inputted while a patient is at an appointment and the tasks made easier as a result – saving an X-ray, sending an e-prescription, automatically billing the insurance company, etc.  There is, however, a greater benefit here, in the form of robust clinical data analytics.  It’s a benefit that a recently launched Boston-based firm aims to help healthcare organizations, a variety of medical industries and government agencies realize.

EHR data typically sits in a silo, meaning that clinical data is stored in one database, operational data in another, financial data in a third and so on. Bringing this data together is critical for discussions with payers; moreover, when linked to workflow and practice management tools, this data can provide tremendous insight into how a healthcare organization is – and should be – operating. However, performing analytics on data in silos requires the use of database queries.

Humedica, the aforementioned company, has developed an application that creates an interface for clinical data analytics. Bringing all this data together lets key decision makers take different variants and create a single, unified view, said A.G. Breitenstein, vice president and general manager of provider markets, in a recent phone call with HealthcareSoftwareReview.com. In doing so, healthcare organizations can “harness the predictive power of large sample sizes.”

Humedica provided a few examples of the power of such clinical data analytics:

• A hospital can determine the average length of stay in the intensive care unit for an insulin-dependent diabetes patient.
• A healthcare group could examine a disease paradigm, create variables, tools and reports to examine care for those diseases and then track whether patients are getting what they need (in terms of inpatient care) and best practices for future, outpatient care.
• A life sciences firm can use population metrics, separated by disease or by drug, to determine how diseases are being treated and how drugs are being utilized – and a government agency, in turn, can uncover disparities in treatment among people with the same disorders.

Humedica’s ultimate goal, President and CEO Michael Weintraub said, is to help create a “census-like view of healthcare in America” that lets users of its clinical data analytics systems conduct “some very powerful population-based business intelligence.”  It’s an admirable goal for the healthcare industry, a logical extension of the HITECH Act’s EHR implementation mandates and evidence that all that data inputted at the doctor’s office or in triage will be put to a greater use.