Clinical informatics is a crucial component for providers to advance in population health management, payor negotiations, performance-based contracts and new care delivery models. Still, despite its significance, more than half of providers said they have difficulty determining priorities and aligning clinical and technological teams.
The following findings highlight providers' most significant barriers to clinical informatics, which employees analyze clinical data and expectations for informatics in the future. All figures are from the PricewaterhouseCoopers report, "Needles in a Haystack: Seeking Knowledge With Clinical Informatics" (pdf). Responses are based on online surveys with more than 400 provider executives and 30 in-depth interviews with IT, clinical and strategy professionals.
1. Describe your organization's clinical informatics governance structure.
We have a formal clinical informatics department: 61 percent.
We have decentralized clinical informatics: 24 percent.
Other: 10 percent.
Don't know: 5 percent.
2. Describe your clinical informatics staffing (all that apply).
Nurse informaticists: 58 percent.
Other clinical informaticists: 50 percent.
Dedicated data analysts: 46 percent.
Chief medical informatics officer: 45 percent.
Physicians via informal role: 45 percent.
Physician informaticists: 28 percent.
Biostatisticians: 14 percent.
Chief nursing informatics officer: 13 percent.
Outsourced staff: 8 percent.
4. Within the next two years, how challenging do you think the following will be for your organization with respect to clinical informatics?
Integrate data
• Very challenging: 48 percent.
• Challenging: 49 percent.
• Not challenging: 2 percent.
Standardize data
• Very challenging: 44 percent.
• Challenging: 54 percent.
• Not challenging: 1 percent.
Integrate clinical measures
• Very challenging: 29 percent.
• Challenging: 63 percent.
• Not challenging: 6 percent.
5. What are the administrative/strategic goals for your organization with respect to clinical informatics within the next two years (all that apply)?
Improve potential for reimbursement: 70 percent.
Support organizational strategies: 65 percent.
Better manage labor productivity: 46 percent.
Negotiate risk-based contracts: 30 percent.
Reduce physician preference item utilization: 29 percent.
6. What major organizational barriers are you currently facing in being able to analyze clinical data effectively (all that apply)?
Prioritizing what to work on first: 58 percent.
Higher priority efforts taking all capacity in organization: 52 percent.
Aligning our clinical and technology teams: 50 percent.
Preventing information overload that complicates providers' efforts to discern key clinical info: 44 percent.
Data being kept in silos throughout the organization: 43 percent.
Inadequate funding: 43 percent.
Lack of governance: 25 percent.
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The following findings highlight providers' most significant barriers to clinical informatics, which employees analyze clinical data and expectations for informatics in the future. All figures are from the PricewaterhouseCoopers report, "Needles in a Haystack: Seeking Knowledge With Clinical Informatics" (pdf). Responses are based on online surveys with more than 400 provider executives and 30 in-depth interviews with IT, clinical and strategy professionals.
1. Describe your organization's clinical informatics governance structure.
We have a formal clinical informatics department: 61 percent.
We have decentralized clinical informatics: 24 percent.
Other: 10 percent.
Don't know: 5 percent.
2. Describe your clinical informatics staffing (all that apply).
Nurse informaticists: 58 percent.
Other clinical informaticists: 50 percent.
Dedicated data analysts: 46 percent.
Chief medical informatics officer: 45 percent.
Physicians via informal role: 45 percent.
Physician informaticists: 28 percent.
Biostatisticians: 14 percent.
Chief nursing informatics officer: 13 percent.
Outsourced staff: 8 percent.
4. Within the next two years, how challenging do you think the following will be for your organization with respect to clinical informatics?
Integrate data
• Very challenging: 48 percent.
• Challenging: 49 percent.
• Not challenging: 2 percent.
Standardize data
• Very challenging: 44 percent.
• Challenging: 54 percent.
• Not challenging: 1 percent.
Integrate clinical measures
• Very challenging: 29 percent.
• Challenging: 63 percent.
• Not challenging: 6 percent.
5. What are the administrative/strategic goals for your organization with respect to clinical informatics within the next two years (all that apply)?
Improve potential for reimbursement: 70 percent.
Support organizational strategies: 65 percent.
Better manage labor productivity: 46 percent.
Negotiate risk-based contracts: 30 percent.
Reduce physician preference item utilization: 29 percent.
6. What major organizational barriers are you currently facing in being able to analyze clinical data effectively (all that apply)?
Prioritizing what to work on first: 58 percent.
Higher priority efforts taking all capacity in organization: 52 percent.
Aligning our clinical and technology teams: 50 percent.
Preventing information overload that complicates providers' efforts to discern key clinical info: 44 percent.
Data being kept in silos throughout the organization: 43 percent.
Inadequate funding: 43 percent.
Lack of governance: 25 percent.
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