For affordable and sustainable care, it is vital to have regional collaboration, a well-functioning care chain and preventive care. An ‘application-focused’ approach is not effective anymore. It can even be damaging because applications like an ECD can trap your data and prevent innovation and open communication. In this article we explain how to move towards a data platform and how it enhances chain care.

Cedric Steenbeke, Healthcare Industry Technology Strategist at Microsoft, shared his vision on how data can help organise and deliver care differently across the chain, when we interviewed him. He said that it is not realistic or necessary to expect everyone in the healthcare chain to adopt the same system. He said that we need to break down the silos, stop overburdening people with data entry tasks, and build data transparency and a network of care. This could be regional, national or even international.

We agree with this vision at Rapid Circle. It is impossible to fit the entire healthcare chain into one system.

The best way to improve collaboration is to share data securely and freely, so that every partner in the chain can use that data to continuously enhance their own processes. And care can be delivered together, in the right place, at the right time, by the people who are best suited for that task at that time.

Of course, the following always applies: share data safely, within all applicable rules and standards and with privacy guarantees at the highest level.

The importance of good cooperation in the healthcare chain

You know that healthcare processes involve more than just the healthcare facility.

It is important to work together regionally and coordinate care well for the future of healthcare quality and affordability. Better coordination of care removes waste and unnecessary work from the process and results in improvements and savings. But sharing data is also vital for preventive care. Acting to prevent or identify health problems sooner will enhance healthcare and lower costs.

To improve the processes across the whole chain, all healthcare providers need more information than they can currently access. And most of the data they need is already there. For example, there are devices in people’s homes, biometric sources and research data. Also, all chain partners have a lot of data about individual clients. But these data sources often do not come together. Sometimes because there is no clear understanding of where the data is and what it contains, sometimes because decisions about data and innovation strategy are postponed and often simply because there are not enough IT staff available. Moreover, data is often unstructured and hard to share.

The problems that healthcare institutions and chain partners face are not specific to healthcare. These are issues we see in all industries. But healthcare as a process is special and complex, which means that innovations from other sectors cannot always be copied exactly. But healthcare also has a big advantage: because there is little competition and because people in healthcare have a strong motivation to provide the best care possible, there is a great readiness to collaborate and exchange data.

A practical example of this is ZorgSaam, a healthcare group in Zeeland and a customer of Rapid Circle. They built a data platform that allows both their partners and their clients to manage their own information needs.

Taking steps towards a data platform

What is the best way to build a data platform, and thus to advance the future of healthcare? Wilco Turnhout, co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer at Rapid Circle, shares his view: “I think you should start with data management in Azure. This platform will help you make data more visible, integrate it and then share it. At the same time, you work on good data governance. We are doing this for different healthcare institutions now. After this first step, you can explore innovations, new technologies and applications that will use the data and enable new modes of care delivery. With an open data platform you can also connect to exchange platforms like CumuluZ and Nictiz’s healthcare information building blocks. All this can be done without having to immediately move to a full cloud solution.”

Getting value from data: choose the right use cases

To help you understand the potential of data in healthcare, we also consulted Louis de Roo, data strategist at data management expert and Microsoft Gold Partner E-mergo, about his perspective. Together we identified some basic rules for maximising the value of data and innovation for healthcare:

1. Start with the data you already have.
   A lot of information is already available in the healthcare chain. Creating that data usually required a lot of time and effort. Most data has been manually entered into systems by an employee. So first look for value in your existing data and then think about collecting more data.
2. Understand the process better.
   ealthcare organisations often do not have a clear view of their processes. To find where the benefits are, IT professionals and data specialists should work with healthcare professionals on the work floor. This way you learn a lot of useful knowledge.
3. Improve the data creation.
   How valuable data is depends largely on how it is structured. Well-structured data recording, preferably automated, helps you innovate faster and deliver more value.
4. Look for processes with a lot of potential for improvement.
   Don’t start with finance, because those processes are often already very automated and optimised. There is little benefit there. The same often applies to logistics processes. The most potential for improvement is in the care process itself.

De Roo, who has a lot of data expertise, says this about the final point: “Ideally, begin at the core of the operation. Because that is where innovations matter the most. Use data to help people choose better. Don’t focus on management or planning and routing. There may be some benefit in that, but only if they are very inefficient.”

High data quality

De Roo says that data quality is higher in healthcare than in hospitals, for instance. There, the interventions are usually short-term and urgent. The long-term, intensive contact with healthcare clients results in much better data: you can compare the same client’s data from week to week. This gives your healthcare data a lot of value, if you record data continuously and consistently.

This benefit manifests itself in two ways:

1. Changes are detected fast.
   Most care happens in a relatively stable condition. Instead of comparing data between different people with the same diagnosis, healthcare providers can view data from the same client over a long period of time. Is anyone eating less? Does someone need more care? Does someone seem confused more often? You’ll notice that very fast. So you can also act quickly.
2. Changes are less arbitrary and more incremental.
   Having contact with a client every day or week allows for more delicate and systematic changes in care, which makes the data collection and utilisation more efficient. A minor change in care, based on the data, can greatly improve the client’s health and well-being.

De Roo: “The key is in predictability. Predictability helps you make better choices about food, activities and everything. With a stable background, you can see the results of everything you do very clearly. And it’s often about very small things, because there are not many complex factors in Care. You have a lot of influence over the situation.”

Better decisions: how it works

People are the ones who decide. How can we help them best? De Roo says: “Care providers often look at lists: what medication does a client use? What treatments have they had? Lists of appointments, contacts, or checks. Professionals constantly make decisions based on these kinds of lists and they have a lot of logic ‘in their heads’ for this.”

Healthcare professionals do intensive, error-prone thinking all day long with little time. Helping them make better decisions starts with making sure they always have the right information. But it can go beyond that. You don’t want to take away the final decision from the healthcare provider, but AI can assist and support a large part of the analysis process.

Apps, context and data

The following question is: how well can the ECD support decision making? No single application, not even the ECD, will always have all the data needed in real time, so people have to look at different screens in different locations at different times. You want to access and combine data sources in a way that fits the situation. A mobile app is ideal for that. Writing back to the ECD automatically is gradually becoming possible, but it is still important to follow the ‘four eyes principle’ and to ensure good data quality.

All devices are connected

Your care process now involves data from all devices. De Roo: “There are many technical possibilities in this field and they align with the goal of letting people stay at home longer and more often. By tracking sensor data and giving a good app to home and informal caregivers, you can prevent accidents. This way, you use your data where it matters most: in the healthcare process. And so you do what you aim to do: help people live healthily and long.”

6 major challenges

There are many possibilities, but also difficulties. Sharing data is not always smooth, because systems often do not work well together and data formats do not agree. Yet sharing data on an open platform is essential for innovation in healthcare. These are the 6 main factors that can hinder the change of healthcare:

1. Data silos

One of the main challenges for data-driven care is to unlock data from different sources that are usually isolated and inaccessible. Many ECD and healthcare applications store data in their own databases, where they are hard to reach and use. But other data sources, organisations and devices can also be difficult to handle technically. You need to overcome this challenge of liberating data from these kinds of closed silos to make data-driven care work across the whole chain.

2. Unstructured data

Another problem is that many data are unstructured. For years, writing conversation reports and diagnoses in text fields has created huge amounts of unstructured data that cannot be used for other purposes. However, you can now unlock the data using AI that can comprehend, analyse and transform texts into structured data.

3. Uncertainty about what is and is not allowed

Privacy legislation is another factor. Because of the rightfully strict rules for managing client data, some people might think that data cannot be used for anything. But actually, there are many possibilities within the laws and regulations, and within the modern demands of cybersecurity. Microsoft infrastructure meets the highest standards and all legal requirements. Also, a well-built hybrid data platform usually gives more options for limiting access and setting up compliance and governance. Of course, this does not change the fact that you must always make sure that you have the right permissions to use data.

4. Lack of clarity about ownership

When you establish a data platform for the whole healthcare chain, you have to deal with questions about ownership. Who has the rights to the data? Who takes care of the technology and maintenance? Who decides how to develop and configure the platform? Doubts on this front can hamper innovation a lot. Good cooperation therefore begins with good arrangements, including about data governance and compliance.

5. Lack of digital skills

Healthcare providers rely heavily on data. They constantly deal with a lot of information from different systems and sources. But they often don’t have the skills or the motivation to examine and enhance the current situation. And that’s what you need for innovation.

6. Focus on output data

‘Data’ is often considered the same as ‘business information’. But we have a different perspective. De Roo’s vision: “The way we currently use data is not efficient. We focus on output, and therefore on the past. You have to integrate the data into the process to use it effectively. So apply the data sooner, where it is really helpful. Don’t manage on KPIs and dashboards, but use data to help better decisions. Because if you make the right decisions early in a care process, you save a lot of time, costs and work.”

Microsoft’s vision: towards an open platform

Steenbeke and Microsoft agree on this vision: “By combining clinical data, administrative data and data from devices like home dialysis machines or blood sugar meters, you get a full picture of the client. This allows you to collaborate better, use AI and do research more effectively. You can use solutions from third parties or create them yourself. The data is central and we are building a hybrid, open platform at Microsoft, with open data standards such as FHIR, OpenEHR and OMOP. Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare is based on that vision: we always opt for a modular, hybrid platform at Microsoft. We offer Azure, Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Dynamics as building blocks. This gives you a trustworthy environment with proven services and unlimited capacity for working with as much data as you need.”

“Of course there are challenges. There are local variations and not every system is the same, so you have to harmonise data to be able to connect. And of course you want to do this on a secure and compliant platform. If you have such a common trustworthy environment, you can work towards a ‘health care USB’: a standard that ensures that you can plug in anything you need anywhere and that it just works. The subset of data you want, in the format you want. If the hospital, the GP, the rehabilitation centre and everyone else in the chain can share data efficiently, care becomes truly chain care.”

Collect data, collaborate and find value

To optimise the quality and efficiency of chain care, seek collaboration and identify which processes in the chain have the most room for improvement. It is logical to begin with capacity planning and staff requirements, but there may be more gains in the care itself.

That demands more data. To deliver better and more effective care, you need qualitative data: how does someone sleep? How is the client feeling? Technology, such as mobile apps, can help gather and share this kind of information and can improve the quality of care. It is difficult to see trends across the chain now, because healthcare providers – unfortunately – do not have a lot of time with the same client every day. It may take weeks before you notice that something is wrong. Or you only notice it when it gets worse.

By acting preventively, you will have to provide less care and you can also plan this care much better. This makes healthcare work less variable, more stable, more predictable and more satisfying for healthcare professionals and clients.

Event: “The influence of technology on the future of healthcare“

In addition to this series of articles, we are organizing, together with Microsoft, the event “The influence of technology on the future of healthcare.”

Experts and experienced experts will tell you during this event:

• How to take the first step towards a cloud platform as a basis for healthcare innovation and regional cooperation
• How cloud technology and data will shape the future of healthcare, for example by facilitating the move from curative to preventive
• How data exchange radically improves chain care
• How a digital workplace frees healthcare providers from time-consuming manual work and makes their work more pleasant and efficient
• How a modern workplace contributes to retaining and attracting healthcare professionals
• How to break free from the limitations of your EPD and organize your care process the way it works for you
• The vision of other healthcare organizations on the future of healthcare

Register now and don’t miss it

Complete the form below and you will attend the event “The influence of technology on the future of healthcare” on April 18.

Other articles in this series: 

Prepare your healthcare institution for the future, even if you don’t know exactly what it will look like

As a healthcare institution, you want to offer your clients a long and happy life. To achieve this, now and in the future, you have to overcome major challenges. Because you have too few people and the number of people who want to work in healthcare is decreasing rather than increasing. Clients also need more care, are getting older and are living at home more often and longer. But of course you know all that. The question is: what are we going to do about it?

Automate and support processes, also outside the ECD

You cannot support every care process in your ECD. Healthcare institutions that have tried to do this for years are now left with a system that is difficult to maintain that does not cooperate with other systems and chain partners. Low code solutions such as Microsoft Power Platform can be a solution. There are also many processes in healthcare that are not yet digitally supported, such as preventive monitoring of clients or calling for help from a colleague. There is still a world to be gained with smart automation in these ‘unstructured processes’.

Improve communication between your professionals

Situations develop quickly in healthcare. When the phone rings, or a client uses an emergency button, it is not always immediately clear what is going on. A cloud platform can combine telephony with other forms of communication and enrich the conversation in a secure way with data that fits the context. This way everyone knows what is going on and what the next action should be.

How to be an appealing employer for home care workers in 2024

As a healthcare institution, you want to organise your work well and be an attractive employer. A modern digital workplace keeps a lot of frustration and unnecessary manual work away from your people. He is also an essential link in all digital work processes and in making data accessible.

Data as a driving force for healthcare innovation: ZorgSaam is building a platform for the future

How does a data platform contribute to better care, improved patient experiences and more efficient healthcare work? And how does it ensure that you, as a healthcare institution, are ready for the future, even though you don’t know 100% what it will look like? ZorgSaam knows, because they built a powerful data platform that forms the foundation for groundbreaking healthcare innovations. With a data platform on Microsoft Azure, ZorgSaam can work on data-driven decision-making, user-friendly access to information and other data applications for future-proof care, without technical barriers.