Survey: Healthcare Orgs Aren’t Making Most of Data & Analytics Tools

Data and analytics tools are seen as a means to improve efficiency and quality in healthcare, yet only a small fraction of those in the industry are using these capabilities to their fullest potential, according to new research from KPMG a New York City-based audit, tax and advisory firm.

The survey, which included more than 270 healthcare professionals employed by providers, payers, or life sciences companies,, asked “Where is your organization in the business and data analytics roadmap?” and found that only 10 percent are using advanced tools for data collection with analytics and predictive capabilities. Twenty-one percent indicated that they are still only “planning their journey.” Of the other respondents, 16 percent said they are using data in strategic decision making, 28 percent are relying on data warehouses to track key performance indicators and 24 percent are using data marts.

What’s more, according to survey respondents, the benefits from data and analytics are balanced between business intelligence (34 percent), improving clinical outcomes (27 percent) and lowering costs (24 percent). Life sciences companies see the biggest benefit from business intelligence (56 percent), health plans cite lowering costs (35 percent), and provider cite improved clinical outcomes (32 percent), followed by business intelligence (29 percent).

“Many organizations are not where they need to be in leveraging this technology,” Bharat Rao, Ph.D., KPMG’s national leader for healthcare & life sciences data analytics, said in a statement. “Healthcare organizations need to employ new approaches to examining healthcare data to uncover patterns about cost and quality, which includes safety, to make better informed decisions.”