State of Emergency:

Increasing complex and competitive healthcare environments are changing the way emergency departments are addressing the needs of their patients and staff. ED leaders are being tasked and challenged to lead the new era of transformation, with timely, actionable, and trusted information to help monitor performance in order to reduce costs and improve the quality of care.

A study from the University of Maryland School of Medicine found that 48% of all healthcare occurs within the emergency department, highlighting the use of the ED as a place for non-emergency visits. This has created an imbalance within the department, creating deficiencies in both inpatient and outpatient resources, along with a lack of effective prevention. 20% of ED cases are actual emergencies, but insurance companies can sometimes try and prevent people from going into the ED, causing even more challenges.

C3TechTargeting, in partnership with d2i, conducted an analytic study on the availability and impact of data analytics within the emergency department. Participants were asked what the state of their EDs were and the performance reporting process. Some of the study highlights include:

•         Responses from 151 companies that participated
•         Patient satisfaction was noted as a very important driver for the industry
•         Inconsistent E&M codes were the highest rated challenge when it came to ED profitability

The responses from participants seemed to suggest that many of the respondents weren't even aware of more robust analytics that could possibly save them time and money. The inconsistency of E&M codes also directed interviewers to the state of EHR data, which created the additional challenge of integration with claims “ in turn, this creates inefficient processing for billing and subjected to greater human error.

These points give way to the number one cited performance improvement for the ED and that's patient satisfaction. As mentioned, the ED is becoming a place for both emergencies and non-emergency care, generating greater crowding, leaving without being seen (LWBS) cases, and slower turnaround time for ancillary services. In a growing digital world, where organizations are often judged by either word of mouth or social media platforms, financial grants and funds are based on the quality of care of a healthcare facility.

Despite patient satisfaction being a top performance metric need, many respondents aren't sure how to improve this area or believe that improvement here was out of their control due to lack of information on how to identify specific actions for improvement.

These challenges showcase the need for better analytics that can be easily integrated, managed, and maintained without the need for manual entering, which is most participants cited as their main implementation.

To see more insights about this report, go to our short form to download the in-depth report with results on the study and further info on how analytics can help to streamline the healthcare industry.