No clear leader in BI technology market

Though analytics are considered key in efforts to improve care and cut costs, healthcare providers say big-name vendors' offerings fail to adequately meet their needs, according to a new KLAS report.

The paper finds plenty of interest among healthcare leaders, but no clear leader in the market for business intelligence technology. In interviews with leaders of hospitals or care-delivery systems with more than 200 beds, 41 percent weren't sure who the market leaders are. IBM, SAP, Microsoft and Oracle stood out with the remaining 59 percent, though none received more than 12 percent of the vote, reports HealthData Management.

An array of smaller vendors, however, are catching up by focusing more closely on healthcare content, functionality and insight, according to an announcement.

"Business intelligence and analytics have never been more important to health care providers, and though the need for use of BI tools is likely to grow, the current widespread uncertainty in the market leaves most providers with unanswered questions on what vendor can best meet their needs," the report states.

By one estimate, big data could save as much as $450 billion in healthcare costs, and a recent Institute of Medicine discussion paper suggested that data collected from everyday doctor visits could be used to improve care for all.

It's clear that more organizations are jumping into the big data fray. Among those named to Hospitals & Health Networks' Most Wired list, 92 percent said their organizations have an executive sponsor of clinical analytics projects, compared with 81 percent of respondents overall. Eighty percent of the Most Wired have a governance structure in place for clinical analytics, compared with 67 percent of all respondents.

In a recent survey by healthsystemCIO.com, however, 76 percent of respondents said they believe that vendors are overpromising when it comes to big data. Fifty-two percent of respondents said that while they are using big data tools for some analytics projects, they aren't doing so at a "sophisticated level."

To learn more:
- read the announcement
- here's the HealthData Management article