Healthcare analytics: Leveraging data as a strategic asset

The global healthcare industry is experiencing fundamental transformation as it moves from a volume-based business to a value-based business. With increasing demands from consumers for enhanced healthcare quality and increased value, those in the healthcare industry are under pressure to deliver better outcomes. Analytics can provide the mechanism to sort through all the complexity. And leveraging data as a strategic asset is key to customer satisfaction.

“The data is to me the biggest thing in healthcare, and I think what you’re seeing more and more of is this push for openness in data exchange and data sharing,” according to Vijay Venkatesan, Chief Analytics Officer, Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey. He adds it’s “going to be critical for healthcare to really kind of realize how to integrate all this information in a meaningful way to provide better care on the patient side.”

In a recent interview at Think 2019, Vijay went into more detail:

What limitations or opportunities do you see with all the new technologies?

Vijay: People consume healthcare not because they want to, because they need to. What’s important in that relationship is to make sure that the member’s information is protected and we’re not using it for any other intended purpose, other than for the care that the patient needs to receive.

Can you explain further?

Vijay: What we make sure is that we’re not using data just for the sake of using data or the sake for making sure that our bottom lines are improving. It’s really about are we impacting the patient and the care that we provide on their behalf in a meaningful way.

How have you been using technology?

Vijay: Technology for us is not a first step, it’s about thinking about the enablement and the interoperability in healthcare. When you think about healthcare, you think about it as different vertical components and not a horizontal unified experience. When we think about technology, what we have to focus on is can we drive the interoperability of the platforms and the technology in a meaningful way so that the customer experience, the patient experience, the member experience, we’re all integrated.

What are the biggest challenges facing you today?

Vijay: I think the biggest challenge in healthcare, in general, is data, and a lot of people think that healthcare data cannot be that complicated. But because you have a number of hand-shakes in the healthcare delivery system, it’s very hard to understand.

What do you think the healthcare system will look like in a few years as it changes?

Vijay: One thing you are going to see significant movement on is not having the four walls as the way we deliver healthcare. Healthcare is going to be where you want it to consume. That you’re already seeing through tele-health and other means. But that’s going to become more and more commonplace.

What do you think is necessary for your organization to become a smarter business?

Vijay: Smarter business for us is are we doing everything we can to make each member experience, each patient experience as well as it can be without compromising on quality and also lowering cost at the same time.