In recent focus groups hosted both virtually and in-person at the recent CHIME Fall Forum in San Diego, the drumbeat of conversation around topics like the importance of well architected “Patient 360” strategies and the potential for Artificial Intelligence (AI) to revolutionize healthcare remained strong. What was even more top of mind for healthcare leaders however, was the critical role of a solid foundation of identity management to fully realize the promise of these initiatives. From care management to patient engagement, and even drug and treatment discovery, having a complete and accurate view of patients is expected to profoundly impact several aspects of healthcare as we know it today.
During the discussions with the nation’s leading Chief Information Officers (CIOs), we heard a call for a back-to-basics approach and a doubling down on wider initiatives like “Patient 360” programs alongside AI to support both business operations and continued growth. Both initiatives require a foundation built upon a robust data and identity management program. And as part of this push—connected systems are critical.
The Pivotal Role of Identity Management in Patient 360 – To achieve a comprehensive Patient 360 view, healthcare organizations must identity management solutions that can unify patient records and ensure accuracy across various systems. Key benefits discussed include:
- Single Source of Truth: A robust identity management system ensures that patient information is consistent and accurate across various healthcare systems, including electronic health records (EHRs), patient portals, and healthcare information exchanges (HIEs).
- Enhanced Patient Experience: Accurate patient identification enables personalized care, timely appointments, and efficient communication between healthcare providers.
- Improved Data Quality: A strong identity foundation helps to eliminate duplicate records, reduce data entry errors, and improve the overall quality of healthcare data.
- Advancing AI and Analytics: By providing clean, accurate, and consistent patient data, identity management empowers AI algorithms to make more informed decisions and deliver more effective insights.
The Intersection of AI and Identity Management
We heard from many about the growing adoption of AI-powered applications in healthcare, particularly in areas like ambient listening, prior authorization, coding, and image analysis to assist clinicians.
Participants highlighted the need for clean, vetted data as the foundation for successful AI implementation, as “bad data will lead to bad AI.” However, participants also didn’t note a single “killer app” for generative AI, as it is just beginning its hype cycle. Overall, we’d recap the intersection of AI and identity management as in its early days, but already seeing value in the following areas:
- Automated Patient Identification: AI-powered algorithms can quickly and accurately match patient records, even in complex scenarios.
- Reducing Physician Burnout: Helping with notes can vastly reduce charting time and AI can help identify which physicians are in need of the most help to reduce chart and follow-up time.
- Fraud Detection: AI can identify and prevent identity theft and fraudulent claims.
- Data Quality Improvement: AI can be used to detect and correct errors in patient data, ensuring data accuracy and integrity.
Challenges in Creating a Unified Patient 360 Experience – Implementing a successful Patient 360 strategy undoubtedly comes with challenges. As a result, CHIME participants shared a number of common hurdles that must be considered:
- Data Privacy and Security: Protecting sensitive patient information is paramount. Strong security measures and compliance with data privacy regulations are essential.
- Interoperability: Ensuring seamless data exchange between different healthcare systems requires standardized data formats and interoperability standards.
- Data Quality: The quality of patient data is crucial. Data cleaning and validation are essential to ensure accurate and reliable information for HIEs, health systems, provider organizations, and others.
- Technology: The need for advanced data matching and identity verification technologies, like Verato’s patented referential matching approach, to accurately identify patients, especially in complex scenarios involving twins, newborns, undocumented individuals, and homeless populations, where traditional identifiers may be unreliable or unavailable.
The way forward
As healthcare organizations continue to embrace digital transformation, identity management will remain a cornerstone of success. By prioritizing identity management initiatives and leveraging the power of complete patient journeys alongside AI, healthcare providers can improve patient care, enhance operational efficiency, and drive innovation.
The concept of a “consumer 360” initiative, where organizations aim to unify all their facilities, joint ventures, and lab partners under one brand and track every touchpoint a consumer or patient has with the organization, is not new, but it continues to grow in importance alongside AI. Participants acknowledged the value of this approach, and the need for accurate identity as the foundation — i.e. even though “consumer 360” initiatives have been around for years, there is still work to be done to realize their potential.
Throughout the discussion, the participants emphasized the importance of a “back to basics” mindset, focusing on foundational elements like data quality and identity data management, as a critical step before implementing more advanced technologies like AI. They also expressed a desire for a more focused and tailored approach from vendors, where the solution’s fit and benefits for their specific challenges are clearly articulated.
