Operational analytics is an effective balm that can enable any healthcare organization to read the mood of the crowd (internal and external) and then, with correct usage, enable a good experience for all stakeholders, patients, employees, and investors alike.

Streamlining Operations in Healthcare using Operational Analytics  

Analytics is a critical business tool for every business. The complexity may vary from industry to industry, and the level of detail each business manager may require. Good analytics can propel the business in the right direction. While analytics typically has been around for most industries for decades, operational analytics in healthcare has generally lagged. Even today, while corporates indulge amply in this, smaller businesses have yet to take advantage of this or even fully understand the need to use it. 

Having worked with different types of institutions ranging from big corporate chains to smaller regional ones struggling to make a mark, kicking off green field operations, taking over brownfield hospitals, kickstarting new concepts, or pulling along the laggers to perform, I can say with confidence that each time even a raw form of operational analytics applied went a very long way in streamlining operations and get more than just a few smiles on the faces of patients, employees and stakeholders alike especially as they realized how things became easier for them to initiate activities or take decisions that were well informed. These 'well-informed' decisions enabled these leaders to empower their teams to work with clear objectives and with reason.

Good Patient Experience in Healthcare with the help of Operational Analytics   

Another reason that employees work happier is that they leave a trail of patients and their families with good experiences when the leadership teams take advantage of operational analytics. The application of operational analytics also allows for efficient operations. Traditionally, we all read operational analytics as decent business metrics. Underlying these good metrics is an efficient workflow enabled by data-driven decision-making and building on process flows that remove the obstacles the teams face while delivering their tasks.  

The workflow is easy for an employee, and the task gets done quicker, with ease, with better outcomes both quantitatively and qualitatively. But this does not just happen. We need to make it happen by constantly monitoring the obstacles and not just overcoming them when they happen, but by redesigning the on-ground processes to negate the obstacles. To make this happen, of course, it needs a lot of creativity, tenacity, and motivation. But the results can be outstanding. Each story you read about any business's big stride or turnaround has a story that underlines these principles.

Complexity of Operational Analytics in Healthcare Services 

Of course, healthcare services analytics can be a little more complex than most industries. Being a manpower-intensive industry where the outcome depends more on the manpower than on the machines and equipment, the skill of each hand (be they nurses, technicians, doctors, or admin staff), especially on the shop floor, makes a huge impact on the outcomes — clinical, overall experience. as well as financial. 

Good Practices In Operational Analytics of Healthcare Services 

To be effective, operational analytics needs information of varied types within each of the clinical and non-clinical domains, along with market trends and inputs, to come together coherently to allow for tactical decisions and actions, which then adds up to business intelligence thrown up for inputs for strategic direction. In all of this, what needs to be considered is also that often a lot of data that needs to come together is very difficult to measure, for example the times of different sorts like, did the patient walk in well before the appointment time, after meeting the doctor, how long did the patient wait to get the investigations done, whether this was voluntary or involuntary, and so on 

Each of these little data points needs to be collated efficiently with other staffing-related data, which may not be captured by the same source, to determine how the process really works and whether it was effective. And this is for the multitude of things that go on in a hospital. And all of this is important because these factors determine whether your patients returned with a satisfactory experience, which in turn defines how the brand you have built, or building, is being seen. I would stress here on one thing - Operational analytics is impactful when accompanied by good communication and action on ground. 

Most hospitals do not have the luxury of purchasing sophisticated systems that can easily spew data. But all is not lost even in these cases. There is a systemic way of collecting data that can be easily converted to good information. The key lies in the implementation of the reporting system. Whichever system or methodology is deployed, this must not simply redeem itself to become a data collection system. Each team member needs to understand what the data states and what we need to read through. Only then can operational analytics be impactful.

Conclusion 

A key point to remember through all of these practices is that while technology has made life easier and more data-driven, the one thing these analytical tools cannot measure is the effect of the touch and feel and interactions with the patients and their families. We need to view this data through a humane lens of how alive our communication is through each touch point. This is what is the final driving force to better operations and to finally better our profit and loss statements. 

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What are the essential tools and technologies used in operational analytics for healthcare?

There are many business intelligence and analytics tools available today for hospitals specifically. It would be a good idea to integrate one of these with the HIS, if the HIS does not have one of its own. 
The financial MIS team can help with a good deal of analysis. However, being a manpower-intensive operation, it is always prudent to find ways of collecting on-ground data, some of which does not get picked up through an HIS—this is easily done through a manual scorecard. I have done this over and over with great results.

2. How do healthcare organizations ensure data quality and accuracy in operational analytics?

Healthcare frontliners need to be aware and conscious of what happens when basic data entry mistakes are made. There are checks and balances built into HIS systems, but these also have limitations. For example, if a person's date of birth, name, or address is incorrect, this could be an issue that the system may not be able to pick up. The floor managers need to be alert to ensure the accuracy of data entry and collection by their teams.

3. What strategies can be used to train healthcare staff on using operational analytics tools?

Train them on accurate entries and help them understand why each entry is important and what can be the impact of an error. Do remember to incorporate their suggestions to make their work easier.

4. How can healthcare organizations evaluate the effectiveness of different operational analytics solutions?

Peruse the reports and the quality of information in the data. How does this help in tracking key metrics that showcase the health of the business? Do take feedback from the software company's other customers directly.