With the economy projected to tighten in 2023, healthcare technology product owners need to position and deliver solutions that offer undisputed value in both the short- and long-term. One way to do this is by integrating identity data management capabilities directly into your products.
For healthcare technology product leaders, the importance of communicating — and delivering — the value of your solutions to your provider customers and prospects has never been greater.
With expenditures under the microscope, and multiple projects competing for investment, you must increase focus on how your products deliver short-term returns to ensure they top the list of strategic IT investments your customers plan to make.
One product investment worth prioritizing? Solutions to address the quality and accessibility of patient data.
In this blog post, we’ll explore why and how patient matching can help you differentiate your product in a competitive market.
Listen to Lynn Stoltz, senior product manager for Rhapsody EMPI, discuss the power of a next-generation EMPI for healthcare technology providers.
2023 will be challenging for healthcare technology product leaders
Healthcare IT spending will likely increase year-over-year in 2023. KLAS has reported that 80% of providers plan to increase investments in digital health over the coming few years.
However, overall economic conditions are projected to continue tightening into 2023. According to an August 2022 report by Kaufman Hall, “U.S. hospitals and health systems are experiencing some of the worst margins since the beginning of the pandemic, and 2022 continues to be on pace to be the worst year of the pandemic in terms of financial performance.”
Where are healthcare IT leaders investing in 2023?
How will providers invest their IT dollars in 2023? A recent article from HealthcareITNews predicts that mega-mergers in the provider space and value-based care will be significant trends as the year unfolds.
McKinsey also expects an increase in the adoption of value based care throughout the year as providers look to increase margins. And according to Forbes, access to health data for more personalized care and the continued application of AI in healthcare will be among the trends to keep an eye on.
A common thread among these trends? A focus on the patient. More specifically, the quality and accessibility of patient data.
A single, complete, current, and accurate patient record must exist and serve as the foundation for the most important initiatives healthcare organizations are undertaking, including:
- Merged organizations looking to quickly recognize the value that their combined entity can deliver
- Value-based care programs that need to accurately and effectively ensure optimized care is being delivered to each patient
- AI and advanced analytics initiatives that require accurate data to be effective
- Digital health technologies that must maintain the trust of the patients with whom they interact
The identity data imperative
The dynamic of the “single best patient record” is changing. The typical provider organization is increasingly operating outside of its EHR. More than 50% of providers are running at least six EHR and information systems, and the average duplicate rate within these healthcare organizations can approach 18%. Consider these statistics:
- 86% of nurses, physicians, and IT practitioners say they have witnessed or know of a medical error that was the result of patient misidentification.
- Each duplicate record costs healthcare organizations over $1,950 per inpatient stay due to redundant medical tests and procedures.
And as patients continue to seek care and service outside of provider settings, it is unrealistic to expect the EHR to serve as the single arbiter of the single best record for each patient that interacts with the organization.
For most healthcare organizations, identity data management is an underlying challenge that may not always be top of mind but that impacts nearly every top-of-mind project.
It is this intersection — patient-centric strategic initiatives, increased need to demonstrate short-term ROI from IT investments, and how pervasive this challenge is for healthcare providers — that makes integrating identity data management into your solution such a compelling consideration.
Supercharging your solution with an EMPI
By integrating a next-generation Enterprise Master Patient Index (EMPI) with your solution, you’ll be able to not only demonstrate your understanding of the challenge of inconsistent identity data within your prospective customers’ data ecosystems, but also provide a market-leading solution. You’ll be able to deliver a solution that can also:
- Help your customers ensure that only the most recent patient information is being used, no matter how they are connecting with the organization
- Provide optimal support for patient-centered initiatives — think digital front door, health equity, and population health management
- Ensure current identity information is available to and used by the CRM for outreach and marketing communications
- Support your customers’ goals and initiatives associated with delivering quality patient care and reduction of medical errors due to accurate patient identification
- Reduce the costs — obvious and unseen — associated with duplicate records, including data stewardship time and resources
But what about time-to-market? Next-generation EMPI solutions can be deployed as a service, drastically reducing the time it takes to get the solution up and running, minimizing impact on the rest of the product roadmap. EMPI technology has advanced to the point that it does not make sense to “build” when mature and proven solutions exist.
“It’s not easy to do anything in a week-and-a-half in healthcare, let alone stand up a dashboard and share so much information with many different organizations.”
Kevin Conway
Manager of Data Integrity, CyncHealth
A stronger solution with identity data management
Read how Geisinger Health has used Rhapsody EMPI to support accurate patient identity across its network of 13 hospitals, 1,800 physicians, to research centers – as well as its health plan.
As the economy tightens in 2023, it will be critical to offer your customers a proven solution that aligns with their goals and helps deliver. By integrating identity data management capabilities into your product offering, you can demonstrate your commitment to helping your customers deliver higher-quality patient care, improve their business analytics, and reduce costs.
If you’re interested in learning more about EMPI solutions and how they can be integrated into your product offering, please contact us to discuss.
For further reading
