The future of electronic health systems and analysts who help support it.

By Rashid Toure, MBA

We no more have to stick to pen and paper when it comes to healthcare data. Technology has proved to be a boon for the workers of healthcare sectors. 

What does Electronic health records’ future hold? We are seeing healthcare delivery rapidly moving to value-based care as the industry switches over from service-based models. Humans will continue to get sick and need care (at least until we all upload our consciousness into robots — but that’s an article for 3019), so we’re going to need to be taken care of. Here are some Electronic health records trends to keep an eye out for in the coming years.

The main thing holding practices back from adoption and optimal use of EHR has to do with finances and expertise. EHRs are incredibly expensive — up into six or even seven figures for the total cost. While hospitals and large multi-facility networks have had financial resources in adopting modern EHRs, the same is not true of smaller practices that heavily depend on government incentives and often find themselves unable to hire the experts needed to support the adoption process and ultimately improve the use of the system.

One way that ease of use can be legitimately achieved soon is through standardization. And it’s not just data and features that need standardization. The physician needs to see and know about the patient’s medical history very different from what the biller needs to see. When both user groups see the same screens when looking at patient info, it can cause miscommunications and confusion that can be life-threatening. Standardizing differences in how conditions are entered for billing vs. for treatment — or separating those views altogether — will go a long way in making the systems more comfortable to use as well.

Healthcare data analysts apply their specialized knowledge of data acquisition, management, analysis, and interpretation directly to healthcare data, providing actionable insights that physicians, clinical researchers, decision-makers, and others can use. It’s a great career choice for those who want to apply healthcare expertise in a novel and innovative way.

Healthcare data analysts—sometimes called healthcare business analysts or health information management (HIM) analysts—gather and interpret data from various sources (e.g., the electronic health record, billing claims, cost reports, and patient satisfaction surveys). When organizations improve the quality of care, It lowers the cost of maintenance and enhances the patient experience. The role of these analysts has become increasingly important as organizations look for ways to capitalize on big data and its various applications, including how it can drive healthcare quality improvement.

Healthcare analysts may be responsible for automating internal and external reports, creating executive-level dashboards, and presenting information to help hospital executives and others understand the data’s operational impact.

Also, healthcare analysts help insurers, vendors, and others synthesize data that guides decision-making, population health management, cost containment, and quality improvement.