How hospitals put predictive analytics into action

Predictive analytics can tell healthcare leaders a lot about trends in their facilities, but turning that information into action is a bigger challenge. 

Just over 30% of hospitals have used some type of predictive data analytics for a year or longer, according to an article from Hospitals & Health Networks, and the vast majority of healthcare executives (80%) say they think the technology can improve patient care.

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Christiana Care Health System in Delaware has been using predictive data analytics for five years, according to a second H&HN article

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“It’s very seductive,” Michael Kanter, M.D., executive vice president of quality and chief quality officer of the Permanente Federation, told the publication. “But it’s one thing to predict the future and a whole other thing to change it.”

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Indiana University Health University Hospital is using predictive data to prevent central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs), according to the first article. In 2016, it launched a data visualization program to track the infections across units, according to the article, and adopted safety measures as a result. Its CLABSI rate has dropped from 1.7 cases over central-line days in 2015 to 1.2, according to the article.