Welcome to the fourth article in our Vizlib Industry Supercharge series, where we look at how Qlik + Vizlib can bolster specific sectors. In this article, we’ll be taking a closer look at how the Healthcare industry can leverage modern Business Intelligence (BI) for better strategy and management, and improve sustainability.
The need for better BI in Healthcare
The healthcare sector has never before been so prominent on such a global scale. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought almost every aspect of this critical industry into sharp focus, highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of its infrastructure, preparedness, and adaptability.
Notably, the amount of information that needed to be recorded, stored, and managed by healthcare providers during the pandemic increased. This was a direct result of an increase in patient admissions. And even though COVID-related admissions have decreased overall since the height of the pandemic, patient admissions in hospitals, clinics, and other healthcare facilities have been steadily high for years in some of the world’s largest countries; rising sharply in some areas over the past decade.
And with high admission rates and the threat of more frequent or larger-scale disruptions to business as usual comes the need for better, more streamlined information management. This is a challenge that’s becoming more critical to address with every passing year: One market research group estimates that the healthcare BI market is expected to grow at a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 14.55% by 2029.
How Qlik Sense and Vizlib improve KPIs with real-time, reliable insights
Modern BI solutions offer healthcare providers and managers increased transparency and better, more straightforward access to critical information. Given the operational complexity of healthcare management, this modern approach to extracting value from data is key for improving Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) from patient experience and outcomes, to profit and sustainability.
With the use of the Vizlib Library KPI Designer for Qlik Sense, any user in the organisation can create KPI objects with a few clicks, combining charts, metrics, and icons.
Patient experience and outcomes
Improving the patient experience and driving better patient outcomes should be the focus of any healthcare provider or manager. In practice, developing and refining processes to ensure a more streamlined, more optimal patient experience with improved patient outcomes is nuanced, technical, and often complicated. This information must be efficiently collected and intelligently investigated to ensure that the best care is provided in the most efficient way possible.
Healthcare organisations are obligated to meticulously track patient stays from start to finish, which generates a massive amount of data. This wealth of information should be translated to (easily digestible) knowledge as fast as possible to ensure optimal care and drive better patient outcomes.
From determining an optimal length of stay (not too short so that key health issues are underserved, but not long enough to expose organisational inefficiencies) to monitoring patient safety and tracking responses to treatments, the information gained both during and after a patient’s stay must be intelligently gathered and meaningfully investigated so that it can be used to drive better patient outcomes, as fast as possible. For example, understanding optimal stay length can help healthcare providers anticipate capacity and better allocate important resources like personnel, medicine, and beds. And intelligently tracking the success or failure of certain treatments or approaches to care over time and across locations, can help improve patient outcomes and, critically, reduce costly readmissions.
The right combination of BI software, data analytics, and visual systems can help hospital staff adopt and implement better processes and systems. And since these systems will require collaborative components to work optimally, tools like Vizlib Teamwork can make it easier for more experienced medical practitioners, for example, to add their valuable knowledge by commenting on data like patient stats.
Human Resource management
The importance of well-executed resource management within healthcare organisations cannot be overstated. Without an informed, evidence-based plan for resource allocation and management, high quality care for patients and service users is difficult or impossible to provide. Healthcare organisations must be able to meaningfully review a vast amount of information to ensure that critical workforce planning is executed without issue.
From analysing training needs and reviewing the skill mix to ensure safe, high quality care, to planning succession, workforce development, and change management, the role of modern BI to improve healthcare management underpins the system’s ability to smoothly, effectively function. By combining Qlik’s Associate engine with Vizlib Self-Service, users have the perfect solution for analysis and data discovery for all users, from nurses to general practitioners, and beyond.
Profitability in the sector
Data fuels the potential for profitability across the entire healthcare sector. By better managing staff and resources, reducing unnecessarily long patient stays and readmissions, and improving patient outcomes, healthcare organisations can become more financially intelligent and, ultimately, more financially healthy.
With a smart claims and billing process to identify key areas where the flow of funds is routinely stalled, healthcare organisations can overcome the notoriously over- complicated processes associated with collecting payment for medical services. This is particularly useful in markets where insurance companies play a key role in the payment of claims.
Integrating spreadsheet-like reporting systems, such as Vizlib Finance, to lessen manual errors and create a single source of truth will aid in profitability as every invoice and payment can be scrutinised.
Qlik Sense and Vizlib: A BI solution to improve organisational health
With Qlik + Vizlib, healthcare organisations can take control of their data and improve their organisational health. By streamlining the handling of big data in Qlik Sense from clinical, operational, and financial sources, providers and managers of healthcare services can better understand what can drive or hinder success, where to reduce costs, and how to support better patient experiences and outcomes.
For example, with Vizlib Library for Qlik Sense, healthcare organisations can create dynamic, impactful dashboards that enable everyone – from clinicians to support staff –to explore and understand critical data at a glance. With this level of clinical intelligence, it’s infinitely easier to engage in effective patient flow management and clinical decision support.
And with Vizlib Collaboration, teams can discuss and collaborate within their dashboards to shorten the data communication cycle. Importantly, Vizlib Collaboration eliminates the need for users to jump between different patient care dashboards and run the risk of missing insights or losing context.
Together with Vizlib Finance, Vizlib Gantt, and Vizlib Self-Service, healthcare organisations can easily unlock an entire data analytics and visualisation ecosystem that increases transparency, enables interaction with data, and helps to future-proof all layers of the business.
For years, Vizlib has been helping the world’s leading providers of healthcare services take control of their data. To learn more about how Qlik + Vizlib can help your organisation, please visit our healthcare solutions page. We have a special webinar featuring insights from Qlik, WWL NHS, Acumen BI, and Vizlib, and many other resources.
