Business Intelligence Success Stories in Healthcare Sector Essay

Business Intelligence (BI) is a technology-driven process which entails technologies, tools, applications, and practices that are used by Organizations to accumulate, incorporate, analyze and present raw data to create perceptive and essential business information. In a business, the primary purpose of BI is to help business managers, corporate executives and other active workers make more informed decisions regarding the day-to-day activities of the market. Companies apply BI in identifying new business opportunities, noticing inefficient business processes and cutting costs.

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Oslo University Hospital, a merger of four smaller hospitals, uses BI to analyze data in a few hours, which would have taken months. With four separate databases for the four hospitals, the data needed to be merged for analysis. For example, the radiology subdivisions used various types of medical imaging at numerous occurrences, making it hard to establish which test was more used at a facility (Obeidat, North, Richardson, Rattanak & North 2015). As a result, the analysis required programming skills which administrators and researchers did not have which raised the need for an IT department to run the reports. The hospital came up with a solution which, through the use of Power Query, they would assemble radiology information from the department systems. The data was then encumbered in a cloud-based database; it was prepared and prearranged in an Excel power query manual, which was in a power BI website. The website can be used as a association site where researchers can share queries. Eli Sager, the CEO of the clinic of Diagnostic and Intervention at Oslo University Hospital says that it's a dream come true (Obeidat, North, Richardson, Rattanak & North 2015). With Power BI, they can now understand what was happening in the department within hours, rather than months.

Power BI has been of significant help to Oslo University and other Organizations. It helps to save on time and money since it is evident that Oslo University now uses few hours to analyze data, a task that would take months to complete. Every individual in the company should be involved in the implementation of the BI system since everyone they should all have full access to information to aid in changing the way they work. The BI projects should start with the top executives, the next group being the salespeople. The tool should be easy to use to help the users quickly adapt to the changes. BI is a critical business aspect if used in the right way.

In the Healthcare sector, Business Intelligence has been used by the industry to make health care more accessible and affordable to a greater range of patients. In reference to Mettler & Vimarlund (2009), a debate on BI in provision of healthcare to direct more well-informed decisions on managerial, monetary and medical questions has gained more support. Nevertheless, capturing the remuneration of BI in a healthy and organized way to help achieve the original speculation of BI has remained a significant question.

Employment of BI, as a technology-based approach has its benefits, but also has its challenges. An increase in the amount of data and change in regulations has increased the need to turn to BI to control data to be used in decision-making to help improve patient outcomes. Oslo University Hospital is among the users of BI in the healthcare sector. BI helps the healthcare business to get relevant, suitable and precise healthcare information. Oslo University, for instance, can effectively access the available public health data, communicate the information to investigators, policymakers, practitioners and the public (Chen, Chiang & Storey, 2012). In reference to Wanda & Stian (2015), the available business intelligence implements used in healthcare practices can reorganize the accessible data and advance the health of individuals.

In the healthcare set up, there is no data shortage; actually, organizations have a deep pool of data. Nevertheless, converting the vast amount of data converting the helpful information and data is the primary challenge. Application of BI has helped healthcare providers get access to knowledge which allows them to give quality care at a low cost. Research by Ashrafi, Kelleher & Kuilboer (2014), shows four synergistic competencies of BI which are: organizational memory, the creation of insight, communication capabilities and information incorporation which makes BI vital for every organization, especially in the healthcare sector. Oslo University Hospital, therefore finds it much more relaxed with BI technology in their healthcare sector.

However, a range of issues prevents recent systems from changing the healthcare business. Difficulty in implementing the current technology practice is the main obstacle. Researchers, Foshay & Kuziemsky (2014), state that healthcare technology adoption could save approximately $77 billion. Nevertheless, some healthcare centers have not adopted a technology-based system especially those who are in small group practices which are caused by the high cost of implementing BI technology. Additionally, electronically stored information has limited privacy and security. In reference to Lennerholt, Laere & Soderstrom (2018), it becomes hard to protect patients' [personal information. The full utilization of BI tools is vital, and it, therefore, requires strong usability and the ability to present the data. However, users do not constantly have the capability of understanding the information and shunning mistakes. Meagre usability can lead to errors which can intimidate the patients' safety and the failure of a healthcare industry to realize the quality. Therefore, Oslo University Hospital together with other healthcare industry which uses BI should ensure that the systems are easy to incorporate and steer to provide information leading to fruitful decision making. In his article, Thor (2017) states that there are several unintended consequences which come from adopting BI.

Conclusion

Managing the healthcare sector has become a significant concern due to the due to the increase in the costs incurred and the need for the improvement of quality services provided to manage the health of the entire community better. BI tools provide a solution to help healthcare providers efficiently control population health. Technology, thus being part of the healthcare sector, therefore requires healthcare organizations to integrate BI systems into their operations. Oslo University Hospital, being one of the healthcare organizations using BI, now finds it more accessible to run their organization more effectively and save time. Data Analysis which would take the months now takes hours to complete. They also do not need an IT department to perform an analysis for them, which help them cut on costs. Surviving in the competitive market requires healthcare providers to use BI, which is simple, and thus easier for the end users to understand. Failure of the end users to follow the use of BI can cause errors, hence a failure in full utilization of the BI technology.

References

Ashrafi, N., Kelleher, L., & Kuilboer, J. P. (2014). The impact of business intelligence on healthcare delivery in the USA. Interdisciplinary Journal of Information, Knowledge, and Management, 9, 117-130.

Chen, H., Chiang, R. H., & Storey, V. C. (2012). Business intelligence and analytics: from big data to big impact. MIS Quarterly, 1165-1188.

Foshay, N., & Kuziemsky, C. (2014). Towards an implementation framework for business intelligence in healthcare. International Journal of Information Management, 34(1), 20-27.

Lennerholt, C., van Laere, J., & Soderstrom, E. (2018). Implementation challenges of self-service business intelligence: A literature review. In 51st Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, Hilton Waikoloa Village, Hawaii, USA, January 4-7, 2017 (Vol. 51, pp. 5055-5063).

ScholarSpace. Mettler, T., & Vimarlund, V. (2009). Understanding business intelligence in the context of healthcare. Health informatics journal, 15(3), 254-264.

Obeidat, M., North, M., Richardson, R., Rattanak, V., & North, S. (2015). Business intelligence technology, applications, and trends. DigitalCommons@ Kennesaw State University.

Obeidat, M., North, M., Richardson, R., Rattanak, V., & North, S. (2015). Business intelligence technology, applications, and trends. DigitalCommons@ Kennesaw State University.

Spruit, M., Vroon, R., & Batenburg, R. (2014). Towards healthcare business intelligence in long-term care: an explorative case study in the Netherlands. Computers in Human Behavior, 30, 698-707.

Wanda, P., & Stian, S. (2015). The Secret of my Success: An exploratory study of Business Intelligence management in the Norwegian Industry. Procedia Computer Science, 64, 240-247.