Posts Tagged: data sharing

Buying or Selling? Check Out Our Healthcare Transition Services

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Healthcare organizations change hands all the time. Bankruptcies, mergers and acquisitions, closures, and more happen all the time. In these times of transition, organizations need a variety of solutions to ensure they are seamless and compliant. As a leader in healthcare data management, we offer turnkey healthcare transition services. Learn about how we can help.

Metrics and Insights

There are a variety of analytics needs in transitions. We developed a product years ago called Acquisition Analytics, which provides an unbiased, third-party review of the data. Its purpose is to help buyers determine the potential profitability and patient retention.

Since its introduction, we have expanded our analytics capabilities to provide deep insights on valuations along with other KBIs (key business indicators). 

Data Conversions

Healthcare data conversions are our core competency. We’ve completed thousands of them for all types of healthcare organizations. We’ve also worked with over 150 different software products. Our data migrations are secure, compliant, and accurate. No matter where your data is and where it needs to go, you trust us to ensure an optimal result.

Interfaces

We consider our solutions to be the pipes for healthcare data. As such, we can move it from any system to any format. That includes real-time and batching with FHIR-standard APIs. As a result, sharing data is now easy and no longer a hurdle or obstacle to operational improvement. 

Data Archiving

During a transition, you’ll likely have data you need to store but not convert to a new system. However, you have to keep it to meet medical record retention requirements. Data archiving is the cost-effective, easy answer. We can archive documents, data, and images to a secure repository that’s accessible via any browser with a login. Enjoy print-ready audit reports, too.

Print and Direct Mail

Lastly, if an organization is changing, you’ll need to communicate this with signage and mailings. We offer turnkey print and mail bundles for rebranding locations with our Printwerks brand. Additionally, we can mail patient-directed communications as first-class letters to advise of changes, portal access/opportunities, and what actions to take. 

Learn More About Our Healthcare Transition Services

When it comes to transitions, your data is one of your most valuable assets. Moving it, archiving it, and understanding it are key. Let us be your data management guide if you’re buying or selling. Download our Healthcare Transition Services spec sheet today.

Healthcare M&A Activity Expected to Rise in 2021: What Does It Mean for Healthcare Data Management Needs?

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healthcare M&A

Are M&A (mergers and acquisitions) ready to take off for healthcare? Healthcare M&A has always been part of the ecosystem. A new report from Moody’s expects M&A activity to increase due to several factors. 

This post will break down those factors and what this means for healthcare data management needs.

Why Will M&A Activity Increase?

According to the Moody’s report, there are several factors behind this trend. Let’s dive into those next. 

Hospitals and Health Systems Want to Expand and Diversify

Many not-for-profit systems are seeking to expand geographically and develop new revenue streams beyond low-paying government programs. They may acquire more specialty services to offer more procedures, which could increase patients. 

For-profit hospitals also want more opportunities to make money. They are targeting out-of-hospital services that align with consumer desires for flexible care. 

Small, rural hospitals have been struggling during COVID-19, leading to many closures. To curb losses, they are looking for partnerships and affiliations.

These factors are in line with a report from Kaufman Hall that revealed the total number of hospitals and health systems declining. However, the remaining ones are larger. The report also notes that there were only 72 deals in 2020, a 14% decrease from the 2019 number of 92. 

Payers Add Non-Traditional Services

Payers want to generate more revenue, too. They saw declines in 2020 simply because wellness screenings and elective procedures dwindled during the pandemic. Payers aren’t expected to merge but acquire non-traditional services. 

UnitedHealth group purchased Change Healthcare. Cigna acquired MDLive, and Centene paid $2.2 billion for Magellan Health. 

Healthcare Staffing Mergers Pick Back Up

Last year, these M&As slowed to conserve dollars. With financing available at attractive rates, there will likely be some consolidation. Moody’s lists potential acquisitions for AMN Healthcare, ONEX TSG Intermediate, U.S. Anesthesia Partners, and Radiology Partners.

With More Healthcare M&A: Data Becomes a Key Asset to Migrate, Archive, or Share

When healthcare organizations merge or acquire, there are a million moving parts relating to legal, compliance, and finances. There are also challenges around healthcare data management. 

Data Conversions

For entities acquiring others, they’ll need to migrate these new divisions into their EHRs and other health information systems (HIS). That requires a healthcare data conversion. It’s a tricky process with many caveats. A migration strategy is a good idea to discern what and how to move data. 

Data Archiving

Acquirers don’t have to convert all the data from older systems. You can choose to archive patient records that are older or inactive. You still have to keep them to comply with record retention regulations. The cost-effective, secure, and easy answer is to move the documents, images, and data to an archive. Select one that’s web-based, so accessibility isn’t an issue. You’ll also be able to decommission legacy systems, which are expensive to maintain and, if no longer supported, leave you open to risk.

Data Sharing

With any healthcare M&A, new systems need to exchange data and communicate with each other. This type of work can be time-consuming stretching thin already overwhelmed internal IT teams. There are options to outsource healthcare data sharing so that interoperability isn’t hindering your operations. 

Don’t Forget About Your Data in M&As

Data can be an afterthought in healthcare M&A. It shouldn’t be! It’s one of your most valuable assets and what ensures processes and ultimately better patient care. If an M&A is on the horizon for your organization, find a healthcare data management partner like InfoWerks. Contact us today to learn more.

What Is Healthcare Data Management?

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what is healthcare data management

The question, what is healthcare data management, doesn’t have a simple answer. It’s complex and includes many different nuances and challenges. The entire healthcare ecosystem is part of the answer. Simply put, it’s how a healthcare organization manages its data.

That management of data includes keeping it private and observing compliance mandates. It also deals with the data’s accessibility, portability, and interoperability. The amount of healthcare data is increasing every minute. Its value to the delivery of care, reducing costs, and improving public health is immense. However, the true potential of healthcare data remains untapped. 

In this post, we’ll look at the ways that we address, what is healthcare data management. 

Data Management Includes Moving It

Data movement in healthcare includes many subsets. There are data conversions and data sharing. In a healthcare data conversion, you move patient data from one software platform to another. It sounds easy, but it’s rather complex. 

To migrate data successfully, you must:

  • Follow compliance guidelines.
  • Ensure field matching is accurate.
  • Include a robust QA process.
  • Move structured and unstructured data.

Those are the pillars of successful healthcare data migrations. Because there is no industry standard for EHRs or pharmacy management solutions, you can’t just copy and paste or use a simple program. It’s a process that requires expertise, testing, and quality controls to deliver the most accurate outcome.

Data sharing is also critical in data moving. Internal and external systems need to exchange data in a secure and consistent process. Data sharing is a data management pain point for many, but it’s necessary to support decision-making and have a holistic view of public health. 

Another aspect of sharing is patient access through portals. Most EHRs have this feature and share data automatically, but there may be additional information that patients should be able to retrieve. For example, lab reports are sometimes in other systems, requiring the portal to acquire that data from its host. 

Data Management Requires Storing It

Storing data is another segment of healthcare data management. First, you should have secure cloud backups of all your applications and data. This function is imperative for strong cybersecurity practices.

The other element of storing data is archiving it. Healthcare data archiving enables you to move data from active or legacy programs into a centralized repository. It’s then accessible, secure, and searchable. In addition, you’ll be able to meet medical record retention guidelines by archiving. 

Data Management Involves Analyzing It

Healthcare data has little value without analysis. By leveraging technology platforms, you can derive critical insights from your data. You can begin to answer micro and macro questions based on the patterns and trends in your data.

Data analytics will likely be the most critical aspect of healthcare data management. It has the potential to improve care delivery and be predictive for both public outcomes and individual patients. Further, it could reduce costs, helps organizations maximize revenue, and more business-focused needs.

What Is Healthcare Data Management? It’s How You Use It 

Healthcare data management means many things. What it means to your organization is how you use it. Your data must be accessible, portable, and interoperable to have healthy data operations. When you don’t have those functions, it derails your capabilities. We’re experts in all areas and are a healthcare data partner of choice for many organizations. Explore our healthcare data management solutions today.