Bridging the gap between finance and clinical data

Properly used dashboards and supporting technology can drive empowerment across hospital departments and roles, involving those who normally might not be associated with analytics, such as physicians, surgeons, clinicians and nurses.

For example, the work of an emergency department (ED) physician at New York’s Mount Sinai Health System with data analytics demonstrates how bringing together clinical and revenue cycle information can bridge gaps and solve payment problems.

The physician was fascinated by data and analytics, but uncomfortable with pivot tables and writing SQL queries because those were not his core competence. However, he was intrigued by his hospital’s dashboard software and the Zero programming language it used to create drag-and- drop usage of analytics, says Andy De, senior industry director, Healthcare and Life Sciences, Tableau.

The physician developed a relationship with the CFO’s office and requested a copy of the health system’s denials management data. “He would put in a day’s work as an ED physician and then moonlight and work on the denials management data,” says De.

In six weeks, he identified patterns in the data, which showed that denials management was suboptimal and pointed to a potential $125 million in revenue leakage that was happening, which even the CFO’s office had not recognized.

This example demonstrates the power of effective data used collaboratively across hospital departments, says De.