For years, the healthcare industry has been a data powerhouse, churning out massive volumes of potentially valuable information every day. Unfortunately, most healthcare organizations are far better at making data than they are at making sense of data. Even those with advanced AI tools struggle as the sheer amount of data can be overwhelming and the insights generated by technology are often too rigid or complex for everyday use.
The real issue for healthcare isn’t the amount of data or how fast it’s processed —it's that the data-driven insights aren’t presented in ways that everyday people can grasp and leverage. However, change is on the horizon. The new generation of healthcare leaders are embracing the concept of “intelligent extraction,” the specialized process of filtering data and transforming it into powerful, easily understandable patterns that can reshape not only individual organizations but the entire healthcare sector.
In our experience, there are three levels of intelligent extraction for healthcare:
Level 1 – Master the Essentials. This foundational level is all about self-awareness. Many healthcare decision makers often overlook or aren’t aware of crucial data points that greatly influence their future. Pivotal metrics like patient care vs. non-patient care revenue, GME cap status, and CMS supplemental payments levels can either propel an organization’s growth or drag it into perpetual hardship. Intelligent extraction helps decision makers form a robust understanding of the organization’s essential data and builds a launching pad to reach subsequent levels.
Level 2 – Know Where You Stand. This level takes basic self-awareness and combines it with situational awareness. Intelligent extraction takes organizations beyond standard peer benchmarking (which they use mostly for marketing) and helps them assess their unique place in the healthcare ecosystem.
An example of a Level 2 pattern is the “Essential Score” from our Gazer platform. While every hospital believes it’s essential, not all of them truly are. To help evaluate essentialness, we’ve distilled key patterns to quantify a hospital’s importance in such areas as:
Access - How many types of care services does it provide to the community vs other community hospitals?
Stability - Does it have the right combination of resources and positioning to continue providing care for years to come?
Contagion - How would the community and other healthcare providers be impacted if it was closed or downsized?
The Essential Score, along with similar patterns, offers a fresh perspective on an institution’s importance to its community. It reduces the reliance on skewed benchmarks and persuasive stories, giving a clearer and more objective view of an organization’s standing.
Level 3 – Shape Your Future. This level is all about cashing in opportunities and improving the future of your organization. Organizations that excel at harnessing key data patterns are in the best position to spot emerging opportunities. These once-hidden opportunities are found across the spectrum of healthcare, from system-wide strategies (e.g., adding more “home grown” physicians via new GME programs) to specialized departmental initiatives (e.g., increase transplant center funding using CMS time studies). In every case, powerful patterns will be the guiding compass that leads to opportunity and the organizations that are quickest to recognize the patterns will grab the lion’s share of the resources needed to gain the all-important competitive edge.
Healthcare organizations are already sitting on a goldmine of data, now is the time to harness it. Finding powerful patterns isn’t merely a strategy; it’s the bedrock of transformation. By diving deep into data-driven insights, organizations can uncover overlooked opportunities and find innovative pathways that truly level them up. After all, it’s about not just surviving, but thriving. With intelligent extraction, the best healthcare organizations won’t just be able to predict the future, they’ll also be prepared for it.
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