4 Reasons Why You Should Invest in Healthcare Analytics

In a world where tech giants like Apple and Amazon rely on data analytics to simplify their decision-making and optimize operational efforts; healthcare is not an exception in utilizing its superpowers. Presented with a massive opportunity to level up their operations and minimize gaps; hospitals and medical organizations are leveraging analytics to maximize efficiencies, detect administrative anomalies, and improve their health-related findings.

Healthcare, in fact, has changed a lot in the last few years. With the advent of new technologies, new diagnosing techniques, and awareness to adopt preventive measures, there has been a massive growth in healthcare data. And accordingly, the need to embrace healthcare analytics was incidental. But before we move on to the significance of investing in healthcare analytics, let’s understand what it is.

What is Healthcare Analytics?

In simple terms, healthcare analytics refers to analyzing vast amounts of healthcare data to derive actionable insights. These insights are developed through analytical methods to enable organizations to make data-backed decisions, which help them enhance planning, optimize costs, and improve operational efficiency. Research^[i] suggests that the global healthcare analytics market size which was valued at USD 23.6 billion in 2020 is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 23.8% from 2021 to 2028. And this industry isn’t just restricted to capitalizing on descriptive analytics but also bringing predictive and prescriptive analytics into action.

Clearly, healthcare analytics is bringing a paradigm shift in healthcare and that’s what brings us to its advantages and the growing need to invest in it. By investing in healthcare analytics, here’s what you can expect to see:

• Improved Operational Efficiency: Analyzing healthcare big data helps to understand staff efficiency by monitoring admission and discharge rates of patients and volume of patients at a particular time. It helps sift through large volumes of information and drive results about the time it takes to treat a patient, which has a significant impact on operational cost and patient satisfaction.
• Minimized Medical Errors: Healthcare has a fast-paced environment. So, the possibilities of medical errors can not only expose patients to the risk of life but also cause an increase in insurance claims. Healthcare analytics can help discover gaps in diagnoses and reduce medical errors. This, in turn, will result in fewer insurance claims.
• Improved Assistance to Patients: Using predictive analytics, healthcare organizations can predict patient admission rates and ensure that enough staff members are available to cater to them during any particular time of the year. This not only allows patients to receive swift care with a low waiting time but also helps scale down over-staffing. Another great outcome of using predictive analytics is the estimation of the availability of beds and other vital equipment in case of critical situations.
• Minimized Waste Production: Medical waste adds up a lot of cost in healthcare. And this waste primarily occurs due to variations in clinical practices and lack of adherence to proven procedures. Healthcare analytics helps discover gaps in following cost-effective use of resources and deviations from standard operating procedures, resulting in minimized waste production.

The role of healthcare analytics is going to be vital in the future with technologies like Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning taking the center stage to eliminate errors, minimize inefficiencies, and deliver accurate insights and predictions for informed decision making. This will not only help healthcare providers improve their services to patients but also save on costs with improved operational efficiency.

If you need to make the most of your healthcare data, talk to us!

Statistics Reference:
^[i] https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/healthcare-analytics-market