Intermountain Healthcare, in collaboration with consulting firm Deloitte, unveiled a data analytics tool this week that will leverage information from electronic health records improve patient treatment efforts via comparative effectiveness research.
The tool--OutcomesMiner--is the product of a five-year partnership between the 22-hospital health system based in Salt Lake City and the consulting firm, initially announced at the end of February. According to an announcement from Deloitte, the tool will aid providers, as well as pharmaceutical and medical device companies.
"OutcomesMiner can do more than provide insights in a one-off manner," Intermountain CIO Marc Probst said in a statement. "It can also be the catalyst that brings key players together in exploring new approaches to healthcare based on data."
Deloitte Health Informatics Chief Medical Officer and Managing Director Asif Dhar called the tool "transformative."
"Tackling the issues vexing today's health system requires new approaches based on the smart use of data," Dhar added.
Announced at the Drug Information Association's 2013 meeting in Boston, officials said the tool will use a double-blinded format in assessing patient data to ensure patient privacy.
At the Big Data and Healthcare Analytics Forum in Washington, D.C., last month, Lee Pierce, assistant vice president of business intelligence and analytics for Intermountain, talked about the health system's interest in big data.
"Our focus is clinical excellence," Pierce said. "This is why analytics began. Our goal is to deliver the best care to every patient every time, promote clinical research, optimize efficiency and develop and improve systems."
In particular, Pierce talked about how Intermountain has used its self-built "data warehouse" system to process care reports and key measures for patients undergoing colon surgery. For the patients enrolled in this process, cost per patient was $12,000, compared to $21,000 for those not enrolled. Pierce cited $1.2 million in annual savings and a decrease in length of stay for patients.
Intermountain isn't alone when it comes to such collaborative efforts. In January, for instance, UnitedHealth and Mayo Clinic agreed to combine their data for more than 110 million patients to help research ways to improve care while lowering costs.
To learn more:
- read the announcement