HIMSS Analytics® recently released its 2016 Clinical & Business Intelligence (C&BI) Essentials Brief, a study snapshot on the U.S. hospital analytics market.  Essential Briefs are in-depth market research studies focused on identifying salient topics in the healthcare IT space that highlight mind share, market share and market opportunity of specific healthcare software technologies.

What is Clinical & Business Intelligence?

For the purposes our study, we defined clinical and business intelligence as a solution that identifies, extracts and analyzes business data (revenue by department, associated costs, operations, etc.) to support business decision making, and clinical data (lab results, medical histories, medical records) to support healthcare decision making.

Adoption of C&BI

Based upon the 2016 Clinical & Business Intelligence Essentials Brief, adoption of analytical tools to meet organizational needs remains relatively moderate.  The adoption findings in the study match closely to the adoption levels of all U.S. hospitals as indicated in the HIMSS Analytics LOGIC Database, giving support to the modest usage across organizations.

Data Governance

The study also revealed that the level of organizational data governance of those with C&BI solutions in place is mostly tactical and inconsistent; indicating more work and/or increase in vendor product functionality needs to occur in managing clinical, financial and organizational data. Share this on Twitter Those organizations with C&BI solution in place also tend to lean on their EHR/HIS vendor for their analytical tool needs at a rate surprisingly higher than best of breed solutions.

Organizations investing in C&BI

Moving forward, the level of organizations with plans to invest in C&BI solutions is showing an upward trajectory, supported by both this study and HIMSS Analytics LOGIC. Vendor solution preferences for organizations with plans to invest indicated interest in a distinct functionality. Additionally, organizations with plans to purchase indicated higher levels of data governance efforts, signifying that as organizations become aware of C&BI needs there is opportunity for vendors to provide appropriate solutions. Organizations without a C&BI solution and no plans to invest indicated reasons that do not align with the clinical, financial, and operational areas that organizations with a current C&BI solution are currently addressing. This all has the potential to change rapidly as the market begins to shift from a volume to value-based care model and the need for predictive and prescriptive analytics becomes more prevalent.  Regardless of the level of adoption, organizations are slowly seeing the value and the power of data they collect to provide better and more precise patient care.  With over half of U.S. hospital organizations without a C&BI solution and the potential growth that could occur in this category in the next three to five years, there is ample green field opportunity for vendors to assist hospitals with this inevitable transformation. Share this on Twitter.

Thoughts from HIMSS Analytics

“It is not surprising to see moderate adoption levels of clinical and business solutions, or minimal investment plans as organizations have been focused on other clinical areas,” says HIMSS Analytics Director of Research, Brendan FitzGerald.  “However, with the shift to value-based care and the potential impact of predictive and prescriptive analytics on patient care, growth in this solution category should increase significantly in the next three to five years.”