By Carl D'Halluin, CTO, Datadobi
Stethoscopes, needles,
tourniquets, and blood pressure cuffs are what typically come to someone's mind
when thinking of items used to assess, diagnose, and treat patients in a
healthcare setting. While these physical tools within a hospital or private practice
are important, unstructured data also plays a critical, yet often understated,
role in the overall care experience of a patient.
Lab results, transcripts,
radiology imagery, and physicians' notes all fall under the category of
unstructured data. In order to make a diagnosis or treatment plan for a patient
it is critical that healthcare organizations manage this data properly either
on-premises or in the cloud. Doing so allows healthcare professionals to unlock
the insights and analysis needed to improve patient care.
Organizing data involves
analyzing which storage option is the best for your organization and moving it
accordingly. However, this comes with an elevated risk. Any time a healthcare
enterprise moves their data there is room for mistakes if the proper precautions
are not taken. Human or machine errors or malicious attacks can occur as data
is being moved over, affecting the overall integrity of data. This can result
in thousands of dollars in compliance fees and extended downtime.
Finding the Right Solution
to Manage Healthcare Data
Due to the nature of the
sensitive data hospitals generate, choosing the right company and product to
undertake the management of unstructured data is pivotal and can be the
difference between success or failure in springboarding your organization into
this data-driven digital world.
Putting proper protocols in
place is key to maintaining data integrity throughout any unstructured data
management projects. The key to doing so is partnering with a vendor who has
these processes already ingrained into their software. Here's some
qualities to be looking for when evaluating a vendor to manage healthcare
unstructured data:
- Training and support - Without an
understanding of how to work the data management software your hospital or
private practice is implementing, there is more room for error. Take a
look at what your overall data management goals are, and where common
mistakes can happen before beginning any project. Look into whether the
software you are choosing offers step-by-step training or has a knowledge
base to share with your team before beginning. Your team will be glad you
did.
- Up-to-date, accurate software - It
is important that healthcare data is protected at the highest level
throughout the data management process. After all, you want it to be safe
and secure in the long-term. Research that the software a vendor is
offering has been reviewed and tested for accuracy. You may want to check
on the prospective business' practices to see how often they update their software
and if they put their products through a review or automated testing trial
period. Does the company release their product updates frequently, through
batch iterations, or is a fully new product yet "to be released" since the
last update?
- Quality assurance - Independent
quality assurance (IQA) is a feature that can save healthcare
organizations money, time, and energy. In the event of a system
incompatibility or a bug, IQA can apply a solution to mitigate
consequences in real-time. Another positive of IQA is that having this
feature at your team's disposal means you can perform an analysis to see
what went wrong and why the bug occurred to accurately reflect any
necessary test, process, or architectural changes.
- Overall data security - When you
move your healthcare organization's data, there will likely be an
assortment of types of files that vary in size, composition, and year of
creation. This vast array of confidential information, such as patient
files and care plans, can be complex as the many different files must be
shared and exported between systems. Without the right system or set up in
place, the security settings can be lost and create holes in defenses for
adversaries to take advantage of. Since all data for hospitals is
regulated, these sensitive data management processes could be a target for
cyber criminals as they know there are higher stakes in this industry. Do
your due diligence to learn about what security infrastructure is in place
in the software you choose up front in order to avoid catastrophe
later.
Data Integrity is the
Winning Ingredient in the Data Management Process
Enterprises who manage their
valuable data assets smartly and securely have the most potential to be a
critical step closer to thriving in the competitive market chaos. Those who
shortcut the protection of their valuable data assets are at perilous risk of
compromising or delaying their company's potential success. With data integrity
at the core of your business, your patients, overall business operations, and
future ability to scale will be greatly improved.
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