Infrastructure

Next month marks one year since the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) health system launched its enterprise analytics initiative, a five-year plan that it says will foster personalized medicine. Part of that plan is to build an enterprise data warehouse for the 20-plus hospital system that will bring together various types of data that so far have been difficult to integrate and analyze. That ambitious plan is in addition to coping with rapid organic growth of electronic of all kinds of data. How is UPMC making sure that it has the IT infrastructure to meet those data storage needs?

As imaging data throughout the enterprise grows, so does the need for a vendor neutral archive (VNA) for more cost-effective storage. Selecting and implementing a VNA can be daunting. First requirements must be defined, and then vendor claims need to be assessed to achieve a good match. Although this can be challenging, finding ways to simplify and refine the process can be rewarding. A workable framework could help better define requirements and assess alternatives.

Last October, the 20-plus-hospital UPMC health system launched a massive big-data initiative, one that will cost the organization more than $100 million over the next five years. With leaders in that organization collaborating to leverage data, the organization this spring launched a formal Data Governance Program. Recently, Terri Mikol, director, data governance, at UPMC, spoke with Editor-in-Chief Mark Hagland and Assistant Editor Rajiv Leventhal regarding the organization’s data governance initiative.

Microsoft has been getting its share of bad press lately after poor quarterly results and more details on a planned reorganization. Many are saying that Microsoft can’t sustain its dominance with Windows and Office as PC sales stall. It is interesting to speculate as to what healthcare might look like post-Microsoft, given the dominance of PC applications in healthcare. Or, will Microsoft be successful in transforming itself, and all this speculation be for naught?

With the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) releasing data on hospital outpatient charges and Medicare spending, the age of medical cost transparency may be upon us. In New York, one non-profit organization is already helping patients navigate troves of claims data to be better engaged with their care.