I have always felt that we always had the data. Now what has changed is that there are tools that can use this data to develop insights. In the early 2000’s Airtel decided to outsource non core activities, but retained control over their IT projects. For Airtel IT was not a cost but a strategic advantage. Today Airtel knows a lot about their subscribers, and is slicing and dicing that data to create scenarios. These are the scenarios that help Airtel in engaging customers.
Today Hospitals in India are doing something similar. Last month I had written a piece that appeared in The Quint, where I explored how hospitals were leveraging their patient data.
For instance, Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital (Kokilaben Hospital) uses patient data to understand the workload of various medical specialists employed, seasonal variations in in-patient admissions, and forecast local disease patterns.By tracking aspects such as length of stay, emergency admissions, and work flow at departments like radiology and pharmacy, the hospital’s management has been able to improve their patient engagement strategies as well as operations.The hospital also tracks metrics pertaining to re-admissions so as to create intervening preventive health programs and reduce re-admissions.
“Technology is key to making healthcare patient-centric. We are experimenting with several technologies to improve patient experience, hospital interactions and medical outcomes.” Says Rajesh Batra, Chief Information Officer (CIO), Kokilaben Hospital.
Similarly hospitals are using data to understand patient behavior, and use these insights to develop patient programs. Considering the magnitude of the Diabetic epidemic in India, these insights are very useful to devise intervention and preventive health programs.
Some say Data is the new oil, but in my opinion its not about data but how we use it. Hospitals in India re on the right track, the question is can we continue on it by treating IT as a strategic partner and not a cost ?
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