Owning the Future of Healthcare: How to Leverage Data and Analytics for Rapid Response to Emerging Threats

“HealthCatalyst comes from a healthcare perspective and designs technology to support it. They were willing to get in the sandbox with us and figure this out.”

Harnessing the power of data is fundamental for any industry. However, it can be more challenging in healthcare with multiple disparate platforms, compliance considerations, and unique workflows. With the right tools and strategies, leveraging data and analytics for better decision-making is possible. Christopher Hutchins, VP, Chief Data & Analytics Officer at Northwell Health System, shared how his organization is doing just that on Owning the Future of Healthcare.

Hutchins shared, “Most healthcare providers accelerated the adoption of analytics during the pandemic, as we did. We used it to learn and adjust on the fly and did a lot of early lifting to index COVID cases and coordinate activities for research.”

This quick response made it possible for their research division to circulate information for public health conversations and issue education regarding the virus and risks. “We did a lot more than we thought could out of necessity. Obtaining certain types of data had to be authorized for use, and we had executives doing this in real-time,” Hutchins said.

Data and analytics made it possible to plan for PPE, load balance, and share supplies. Having access to data was much easier with Northwell working with HealthCatalyst. Hutchins explained, “They come from a healthcare perspective and design technology to support it. They were willing to get in the sandbox with us and figure this out.”

Hutchins also spoke about the challenges of aggregating multiple data sources. “We needed to do this quicker and at a lower cost. In the last 18 months, we’ve been able to bring in EMR data sources, claims data, and three in-patient hospitals to one platform.”