As healthcare organizations strive to build an Enterprise Master Patient Index (EMPI) on cloud computing platforms, health IT decision-makers can maximize their efforts by teaming with a managed service provider (MSP) that can help them develop an accurate patient database.
Now that the use of advanced electronic health records have become more ubiquitous, and deployment of cloud computing across healthcare systems is a growing trend, organizations are in a better position to develop an EMPI that will eliminate errors, improve data integrity and mitigate the risks of patient record duplication.
Many MSPs that have partner agreements with cloud vendors such as AWS and Microsoft Azure, are being relied upon to help health organizations build a scalable EMPI platform that is continuously maintained, updated and accurate. Cloud computing’s ability to ingest mass volumes of patient data residing in various, siloed systems, and present it across the enterprise with a high level of transparency, allows providers to access actionable patient information for improved care coordination and clinical decision-making.
Healthcare organizations need to keep in mind that whether they are using AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google or IBM, every cloud vendor has their own software stacks, and their unique approach to provisioning and managing tools. Many MSPs partners of cloud vendors can help health organizations transition to a vendor’s portal, handle APIs, and can assist with other management features.
MSPs and Healthcare Transformation
Healthcare organizations are also facing numerous data regulations that impact the way an EMPI is designed. Many MSPs involved in patient data management are protecting their customers data from cybersecurity and ransomware attacks and have implemented policies and procedures and security technology that address regulations under HIPAA. MSPs can also help healthcare organizations improve their EMPI’s ability to meet patient data reporting requirements under the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA).
Additionally, MSPs are assisting their healthcare customers tackle issues arising from risk-based programs such as bundled payment or population health initiatives. These programs rely on hospitals, doctor’s offices, rehabilitation facilities, community facilities and other organizations to exchange accurate data among their care team members. Care teams also require a care coordination model that reduces the complexities of duplicate records and inaccurate patient data.
To successfully design a patient data management system that supports risk-based programs, organizations must evaluate and analyze the data they manage, formulate requirements that keep patient information secure and up-to-date, and develop strategies that support their business operations.
As the healthcare system continues its IT transformation and technologies including big data and Artificial Intelligence become more prevalent, organizations can turn to MSPs to help create a plan to migrate patient data to the cloud, while providing a solution that tackles the ongoing clean-up of data as a Service.
While the healthcare industry pivots from a fee-for-service to a value-based model, organizations are looking for technology and IT skills that can support patient data management and clinically integrated networks to improve their engagements in risk-based contracts.
To gain financial rewards from risk-based contracts, MSPs can help provide regular maintenance and tunings of an EMPI engine. This is to ensure that the EMPI is delivering superior, continuous patient matching capabilities. When not maintained correctly, healthcare organizations typically end up with a higher number of duplicates and a non-performant EMPI, which ultimately delays and negatively impacts care delivery, and places quality and patient safety at risk.
Turning to an MSP that can provide a hosted, SaaS subscription model can help healthcare organizations meet their goals of improving total cost of ownership while enhancing the performance of their EMPI engine. Additionally, MSPs and their cloud vendor partners offer solutions that enhance security, avoid future capital investments on hardware and software, and leverage IT skills.
As healthcare consolidation continues, large organizations and integrated delivery networks (IDNs) must consider how they’ll design an effective EMPI that provides a high level of clean actionable patient data. They’ll want to seek an MSP partner that can offer IT skills, evaluate data quality, and provide patient data management. Additionally, they’ll want an MSP that can deliver regular optimization while aggregating, standardizing, and normalizing data. In essence, MSPs can prepare your EMPI system for the challenges that healthcare transformation will bring in the years ahead.
Shahzad Ahmad is Vice President of Cloud Operations & Delivery for NextGate, a global healthcare leader in identity management.