Healthcare IT wasn't made for the faint of heart. From managing myriad data across medical devices, providers, and patients to ensuring data security without restricting access to appropriate users, the list of responsibilities is growing. Tack on the added challenges of reducing operational costs, improving uptime of online services, and making informed decisions about infrastructure—all while meeting HIPAA, meaningful use, and HITECH Act compliance standards—and it's easy to see the need for a comprehensive solution. To get you started on your search, we've highlighted four tips for assessing health care operational software, outlined in more detail in our free e-guide, "How better insights lead to better health care operations."
Performance monitoring
Machine data is complex, coming from everywhere: health plans, devices, employers, laboratories, physicians—the list goes on. But no matter how complex your data is, your software should be able to handle it. Look for a platform that can analyze data from IT infrastructure, servers, and custom applications that enable the health information exchange (HIE) platform. Plus, real-time visibility into distributed processes is essential to take corrective action to address problems, avoid potential SLA infractions, and improve uptime for the services you offer.
Security
Nothing is costlier than a lack of trust. Even in the best-case scenarios, security breaches can occur—which is why proactive corrective actions must be taken at the first indication of nefarious activity. A viable solution should gather data from all data sources to identify breach or leak incidents concerning electronic protected health information (ePHI) and respond in real time to ensure privacy of patient information. These protective measures help with compliance requirements and ultimately reduce your risk of exposure to damaging lawsuits, fines, or loss of patient trust.
Compliance
Penalties and fines mount quickly when compliance violations are detected. And with an increasing number of agencies incentivized to perform audits, find violations, and expose data breaches, it's crucial for operational software to meet your compliance needs. Address privacy monitoring and compliance requirements today, and take advantage of existing, effective cybersecurity response infrastructure to be better protected against violations tomorrow.
Fraud
In 2014, health care costs in the U.S. exceeded $3 trillion, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and of that, approximately $754 billion is estimated to be lost to fraud and billing errors. An ideal operational software monitors for fraud patterns in claims by correlating with past profiles, internal and external fraud knowledge base, and external data on patient caregivers. By scanning through data sets in real time, fraud and errors are immediately detected and prevented in most cases.
Getting the best out of your health care IT and its data starts with a flexible, cloud-based solution. For more information on how you can streamline your IT infrastructure, reduce operational costs, and prevent security breaches and fraud tactics, read our free e-guide, "How better insights lead to better health care operations."
