Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/1476979
52 EXECUTIVE BRIEFING 3 EXECUTIVE BRIEFING technology. A symplr survey of more than 200 provider data management leaders (directors and above) found 51 percent use at least five or more applications to do their job on any given day. Improved solutions that work with the healthcare workforce will enable staff to spend more time where it matters most — with patients or to better serve their patient-facing colleagues. A deeper dive: How an API gateway enables an integrated enterprise Having an application programming interface within each solution and across a product portfolio allows solutions to connect with one another, as well as the larger ecosystem around them. This enables exchange of the necessary information to be more efficient and effective. Creating a connected enterprise starts with an API that enables data movement, workflows and proactive events across the systems' technology ecosystem. The integrated enterprise system gives leaders and their teams a gateway to improve collaboration, consolidation and communication across the system. That equates to better resource utilization and higher reliability, to name just two advantages. Every authorized user gets a one-stop shop to locate all the data their system holds on a particular facility, vendor, person, contract or regulation. If a healthcare operations leader requires information on a specific healthcare provider, that leader must first locate the data that the system hosts or accesses on that provider: credentials, current privileges, performance improvement data for quality and reappointment, employment contract, HR and payroll data, payer-panel inclusion, directory information for scheduling, and more. Through the API, healthcare operations leaders gain a seamless way to ask for data without having to go to singular standalone software products or modules one by one. The data that's returned in any search is accurate and uses industry standard terminology, ultimately improving productivity for these leaders and their teams. Don't forget security, configuration and communication It's mandatory for any system in healthcare to maintain a strong security mechanism to bar unauthorized access. In the connected enterprise, authorized users are granted a set of security credentials to allow secure access to the API gateway. In any model of API communications, auditing of access is a key component to ensure the safety of the data along with record keeping of who, what and when data was accessed. The configuration of the API gateway is what enables a healthcare organization to specify the modules — and therefore the data — a user can access. Configuration is specific to an organization, so customized constructs can be made to reflect the health system's data prioritization. Finally, by referencing communication in an enterprise healthcare operations software, we simply mean the "flow" that creates the entry point into a program. Using our provider data management example, this would be the clinician's onboarding workflow, through contracting, credentialing, reappointment and updating a patient-facing directory listing, for example. When striving to integrate different environments, configurations and software solutions of varying ages and maturities from different vendors, use the following three-step approach to emerge successful. 1. Unify the user experience. Users should experience a universal look and feel across the organization, even with solutions that have been acquired through mergers and acquisitions. While this is a large undertaking and cannot happen overnight, making small changes over time can create that unified experience customers are looking for. This also can protect against any major disruptions to service. 2. Connect workflows. Once a common look and feel is achieved and products have a universal API infrastructure, activities in one product can trigger a response or workflow in another. This level of autonomy behind the scenes will drive overall efficiency for the product portfolio and improve the user experience. 3. Use enterprise analytics. Enterprise analytics and reporting provide a core service to aggregate data across the product portfolio and create a centralized data source. By leveraging aggregated data, analytics platforms can serve up new insights that might not have been possible in solutions composed of siloed, disparate systems, especially when they're point solutions from various vendors. In today's complex healthcare enterprises, leaders are making progress using better-connected data to achieve better outcomes, for all participants. They're using enterprise healthcare operations software to solve immediate, real-world problems and take a uniform, high-reliability and human- centered approach to healthcare operations. With the right enterprisewide solutions, healthcare operations leaders can integrate technologies to improve operation speed and resiliency while supporting clinicians. n symplr is the leader in enterprise healthcare operations software and services. For more than 30 years and with deployments in 9 out of every 10 U.S. hospitals, symplr has been committed to improving healthcare operations through its cloud-based solutions, driving better operations for better outcomes. Our provider data management, workforce management, and healthcare governance, risk management, and compliance (GRC) solutions improve the efficiency and efficacy of healthcare operations, enabling caregivers to quickly handle administrative tasks so they have more time to do what they do best — provide high-quality patient care. Learn how at www.symplr.com.