Every healthcare organization produces massive amounts of data, from EHRs to internal payroll. What they do with that valuable raw material determines whether they struggle or succeed in the most competitive environment in decades. Thoughtful data processing is the pivotal next step, allowing organizations to extract maximum value from a raft of information. Today, proper infrastructure is the difference-maker.
Enter the data lakehouse built for healthcare—a platform architecture to accelerate performance from the exam room to the board room. This technology quickly integrates diverse data sources, from claims to wearable devices, empowering decision-makers with timely intelligence and a comprehensive window into performance and population health. Lakehouse technology lets users across an organization make data-backed decisions, whether that’s a care manager leveraging a 360-degree view of patients or an analyst creating a report from multiple trustworthy data sources.
A new frontier in healthcare data management
First, it’s important to discuss what differentiates a data lakehouse from other platform architectures. At its most basic, a data lakehouse fuses the benefits of flexible and low-friction data lakes with the benefits of reliable analytics-grade data warehouses. Tiered layers of governance allow technical users to query raw data while clinicians can access dashboards that make their jobs easier. Administrators can vary access permissions by user, so information is secure and readily available.
How the lakehouse optimizes efficiency
The lakehouse’s reliability means that healthcare leaders can depend on analytics confidently when they make important decisions. Arcadia's data platform is powered by lakehouse architecture to improve efficiency in several key areas:
- Data acquisition: In traditional data warehouse paradigms, ingesting new data can be tedious. A lakehouse enhances healthcare organizations’ abilities to harness big data with speed, reliability, and scale.
- Data processing: A lakehouse-powered data platform can crunch massive amounts of information in no time, meaning insights are fresh and organizations can take swift action. An Arcadia customer using the data platform powered by lakehouse architecture saw a 79% improvement in data turnaround time, converting a complex weekly job to an overnight 5-hour process.
- Data access: Large enterprises might have thousands of stakeholders interacting with their data. Arcadia's data platform uses lakehouse architecture to solve bottlenecks, bringing performance improvements to the traditional warehouse. Providers can see granular data at the patient level, while data analysts or care managers can also see an entire population from a bird’s eye view.
How the lakehouse reduces costs
With the near-infinite possibilities of generative AI come the inevitable cloud bills associated with storing and processing all the data needed to power these models. The data lakehouse built for healthcare leverages scalable cloud solutions to optimize data storage and processing costs. Recently, Arcadia measured lakehouse performance and discovered it could accommodate a massive amount of data on just 30% of the hardware while querying twice as fast.
Platforms powered by lakehouse architecture are also ready out of the box, immediately accelerating value and efficiency. Together, this adds up to healthier bottom lines, especially in an enterprise environment that might rely on multiple vendors or incompatible programs.
A buildable data platform for healthcare’s future
With the pace of change in healthcare, cloud data architecture, and artificial intelligence, it can feel daunting to build durable, future-proof platforms. But a data platform powered by lakehouse architecture can provide the flexible and buildable launchpad for tomorrow's innovations, whether that’s more advanced AI or more powerful automation. Already, AI and machine learning help the healthcare organizations I work with identify trends without manually sifting through data, leading to better resource allocation and cost savings.
The US healthcare industry needs help to provide high-quality care at a sustainable cost. Our success requires collaboration and innovation from clinicians, technologists, operators, and patients. A high-performant data architecture is the first step towards an optimized healthcare future, giving organizations the speed, flexibility, and scale to rise to the challenges ahead and thrive in tomorrow's unknown.
Learn more about the data lakehouse built for healthcare and how it’s helping organizations achieve more, faster.