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Data management remains a major issue for healthcare organizations as the amount of data generated and stored by them is growing rapidly, making it difficult to manage this information with accuracy and efficiency. Many CIOs are looking at how well their current identity solutions are tackling the challenge. In fact, a survey by PatientID Now found more than half of respondents have already implemented new identity management processes or are planning to do so in the next 12 months.
Your data management difficulties are growing with you
One of the main challenges of healthcare data management is the complexity of managing and maintaining patient, consumer, and provider identities across the enterprise and beyond, especially as your organization grows organically and through partnerships and acquisition. Data for each person or organization is typically created and/or stored in an increasing number of fragmented systems. And as the customer and provider base grows, so does the complexity of managing identity data. For example, as organizations grow to include a larger service area, more of their patients will share important identifying information such as names or birthdates. In fact, according to PatientID Now, the most common patient name in an organization is shared by 6% of the patient census on average. And in any large population, address and name changes—which can also complicate the process of accurately resolving and managing data—are also more common.
Healthcare M&A deals, which averaged 400 per quarter in 2022, and EHR migrations can also cause problems with patient identity. On average, 24% of a healthcare organization’s patient records are duplicates, and the challenge is exacerbated when consolidating records across multiple EMRs. According to PatientID Now, 77% of organizations reported that EHR migrations or facility acquisitions have contributed to patient identity issues or duplication issues.
Additionally, data spread across disparate systems makes it more and more difficult to achieve a complete view of every person in a healthcare organization. EHRs are not the only systems that store and create identity data—claims, labs, imaging, marketing, third-party, and other sources contain additional pieces of information. Only by connecting these fragments using a master data management strategy can organizations achieve a 360-degree view of every person across their enterprise. One example that highlights the need for linking data sources is Walgreens investing $5.2 billion in value-based primary care provider VillageMD.
“This will bring primary care and virtual care together, which means the “digital identity” and “clinical identity” need to be brought together,” Avi Mukherjee, Chief Product Officer of Verato, said. “These integrations will create new data that needs modernized, healthcare-focused master data management that can provide a holistic view of a patient across these data sources.”
Your digital front door is also letting in incomplete data
The explosion of new digital health technologies designed to boost customer access and satisfaction is critical to success for today’s healthcare organizations. Many organizations have dozens of new applications installed to reduce friction for healthcare consumers and create better experiences for patients and providers A ubiquitous example is that more than 90% of healthcare organizations have patient portals and 84% of physicians offer virtual visits. To use the new apps, patients often have to self-register—and often as they are rushing to join a telehealth visit or view test results. Understandably, a large majority of health systems report that these initiatives can thereby contribute to an increase in duplicate records and identity issues.
As large technology companies enter the healthcare space with the goal of innovating the industry, data management will continue to become more complicated. One example is Amazon’s $3.9 billion acquisition of One Medical.
“This deal is the start of Big Tech acquiring care delivery organizations that will lead to an explosion of data for a patient and their household, their caregiver, a group of providers who are delivering coordinated, high-quality care,” Mukherjee said. “This creates an urgency around the cloud-based, healthcare-focused master data management solution to span across patient, provider, household, and consumer identities and link these identities in a consumer-patient-provider journey.”
Healthcare organizations need to keep an eye on the future
To address these challenges, healthcare CIOs must be proactive in addressing patient identity and data management issues that arise from market consolidation and digital front door initiatives. As 77% of health executives are investing in enhanced portals and mobile apps, it is important to implement a solution that will effectively manage patient, consumer, and provider information and prevent duplicates and identity issues.
Managing healthcare data in 2023 will require a renewed effort from CIOs. With the growing complexity of identity management and the challenges posed by market consolidation and digital front door initiatives, it is essential to implement a solution that will effectively manage patient information and prevent duplicates and identity issues. By acting now, healthcare organizations can improve data accuracy, boost customer satisfaction, and achieve their strategic goals in 2023 and beyond.
In order to achieve these goals, organizations need an identity management partner that specializes in the complex data management and business needs of healthcare. The Verato Universal Identity™ platform is the industry’s first hMDM solution, the next generation of master data management MDM, redefined for healthcare organizations across the care continuum. The platform is powered by Verato Referential Matching®, which achieves the highest patient matching accuracy in the industry. As a cloud-native service, the Universal Identity platform deploys quickly, scales with the needs of your company, and maintains the highest level of security. And thanks to a team of experts dedicated to your success, you’re prepared for any challenge coming your way.
Read the full report to prepare for the challenges ahead.
