Becker's Hospital Review

67 users a high degree of control over their data sources. Specif- ically, data policy enables users to manipulate who can access what data for what purpose and when. Controlling data ac- cess is essential for healthcare organizations, as some data are appropriate for one organization to see at one time, but may be inappropriate for another partner organization to see at a different time. Consider EHR data shared between a hospital and a physician group participating in an ACO. It's helpful and appropriate to share patient information for that specific population when making healthcare decisions, such as planning interventions or offering new services. However, it is inappropriate for a hos- pital physician to access all of the patient records in the phy- sician group's EHR for the purpose of poaching prospective patients. "[The hospital and physician group] are working together for one purpose, but there may be other situations in which they're competing, and it's not appropriate from a HIPAA or business relationship perspective for all of that data to be ac- cessible to either organization all the time," Mr. Malec says. As organizations establish new data sharing agreements with more providers for value-based care, the data needed to sup- port these relationships grows increasingly complex. A solu- tion that doesn't incorporate data use policies requires health systems to acquire the same data multiple times and store it in multiple ways to ensure that only the right data is seen by the right person for the right purposes of use. "Selecting vendors who understand the complexity of config- uring and enforcing this type of policy is critical to a health sys- tem's strategy," Mr. Malec says. A call to action: Choosing IT to support value-based data needs Lowering utilization rates and improving health outcomes depends upon data that are complete, consistent, accurate and accessible. Getting data on that scale is an ambitious undertaking, but an achievable one with a data platform that accounts for an organization's specific needs and capabilities. Health systems should consider the following three criteria when choosing a data platform to best position themselves under value-based care, Mr. Malec says. 1. Build a data roadmap. Many healthcare organizations are focused on automating data capture, acquiring data and get- ting it together in one spot, rather than strategic planning or accounting for how data are used meaningfully on the back- end. When this happens, organizations may encounter a num- ber of setbacks, including incompatible data formats or inef- ficient data flow. Instead, health systems need to establish an acquisition strategy that starts with the end in mind. "Organizations need to start by being thoughtful about where they're going in the next five years," Mr. Malec says. "Consider what kind of value-based payment programs you will be par- ticipating in, what data you'll be sharing, what organizations you'll be sharing that data with. And then make sure you're talking to your IT partner about your upfront needs and future data capabilities." 2. Formal data reuse methods. Repeatable data acquisition can accelerate what used to be a laborious and costly process of point-to-point integration by enabling hospitals to reuse standard data mapping model, Mr. Malec says. For example, with a robust data platform, EHRs can be pre- mapped to a canonical format, which means new sources don't have to be manually mapped to one another to share information. Rather, sources are mapped to a predetermined standard, which means that new interfaces can come online within days rather than months and at a much lower cost. Data acquisition is a special competency that many organiza- tions have not yet developed. Without the right tools, training and support, acquiring, aggregating and consuming crucial data goes beyond the skillset traditionally associated with data analysts. For this reason, many organizations see value in partnering with advisors to develop appropriate acquisition and data-use strategies. 3. Built-in, flexible data policy framework. The more part- nerships a health system participates in, the more complex data-sharing and data-use become. Organizations that don't carefully think about what data is shared with what people at what time increase their risk of giving an inappropriate party access to valuable data. "Health systems need a flexible IT infrastructure which allows them to get down to that level of keeping track of what exact data from which organizations can be used for which purposes for which patient — the key data rights you need to satisfy to make sure you're on the right side of HIPAA," Mr. Malec says. Choosing a data platform with a built-in policy framework can help organizations manage their data sources from the start. Conclusion To survive in the changing healthcare landscape, organiza- tions need to define a plan for how to tap into the value of data across their enterprise. This includes building the skills and processes and employing the right enabling technology to transform raw data into information that drives strategic val- ue. With proper support from executive and IT leadership, a robust data platform helps organizations better position them- selves for success under value-based medicine. n "Organizations need to start by being thoughtful about where they're going in the next five years. Consider what kind of value-based payment programs you will be participating in, what data you'll be sharing, what organizations you'll be sharing that data with." — Arien Malec, Senior Vice President, Change Healthcare CONTRIBUTED ARTICLE

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