Mergers, acquisitions, and partnerships are a dominant force in today's healthcare system. These new organizations, however, will not be functionally integrated until their data is integrated. The de facto solution to integrating data is to rip and replace the workflow information systems, such as enterprise resource planning systems (ERPs) and EHRs, with common vendor products. This is an incredibly expensive, complex, and low-value option. A better option in today's world is to integrate data content first, at a fraction of the cost, using a data warehouse or a data operating system.
Data has a profound impact on healthcare organizations' pre- and post-merger activities, yet it is easily and often overlooked by those who should be the most aware. C-suite executives need to immerse themselves in the technical conversation—the language of IT—because, for better or worse, organizations run at the speed of software. This is true in finance, education, manufacturing, and, especially, healthcare. If U.S. healthcare is ever going to get better, faster, more affordable, and more accessible, we must develop better software and make it available to all parts of the industry.
Everything healthcare organizations need to do, strategically, is either helped or hindered by software and data. Therefore, all C-suite leaders need to see themselves as partial chief information officer (CIO) and chief digital officer (CDO). This is the nature of the world in which healthcare operates now. Delegating this knowledge to others means also delegating the future of the company to others. While trust is a significant component of good leadership, good leaders must understand the domain in which they operate. And software drives the healthcare domain.
The goals of this report are threefold:
- To comprehend how fully digitized our world has become and understand healthcare's standing in this world.
- To position the importance of IT strategy and data convergence in the growing healthcare merger and acquisition (M&A) landscape.
- To introduce the Health Catalyst® Data Operating System (DOS™) platform and its role in facilitating IT strategy for an unprecedented future in healthcare.
To learn more about maximizing the value of M&A, visit HealthCatalyst.com.
