Majority of healthcare leaders struggle with inefficient data, report finds

Article By:  Sydney Halleman

Blog Source From : https://www.healthcaredive.com/

Dive Brief:

• An overwhelming 90% of healthcare leaders reported losing revenue due to inefficient data use, according to a new survey and report from healthcare data company Intelligent Medical Objects and market researcher PureSpectrum.
• Of 300 surveyed healthcare leaders responsible for purchasing and implementing technology at provider organizations, 84% of respondents reported using more than 20 individual healthcare software vendors, contributing to data silos and “management nightmares,” according to the report.
• The findings come as provider groups increasingly use artificial intelligence to combat clinician burnout and tech companies invest in healthcare data management. In the past week, Microsoft-owned clinical software group Nuance announced it was integrating its AI technology GPT-4 into its medical scribe software.

Dive Insight:

Data fragmentation, optimization issues and complex technology integrations can be drivers of clinician staff burnout as hospitals and provider groups grapple with staffing shortages and persistent worker fatigue in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the IMO report, 65% of healthcare leaders cited prominent clinical staff burnout and 45% reported frustrating data issues within their organization.

Healthcare AI has promised to alleviate data and software fatigue, with the Food and Drug Administration accelerating approval of AI medical devices in the past year. The healthcare AI industry, joined by tech giants including Amazon, Google and Microsoft, has the potential to save the industry up to $360 billion annually, according to McKinsey and Harvard researchers. 

However, AI has struggled to gain widespread adoption, with 60% of U.S. adults reporting in a Pew Research survey they felt uncomfortable with providers using AI tools for diagnostics.

More than 80% of respondents in the IMO report said that they thought AI received too much hype, but 86% of respondents also reported using AI in their organization, with a majority favorably viewing AI’s potential to improve administrative functions and clinical quality.

Over 90% of healthcare leaders said they planned to invest in software to address clinician burnout and a potential economic recession, with 65% saying they planned to invest in workflow optimization tools and 63% reporting that they planned to invest in data enablement software.

The report also highlighted leaders’ frustrations involving communication with multiple software vendors — 32% of respondents reported that their biggest vendor frustrations involved technology integration, with 29% reporting inadequate technology vendor training.