In a Friday morning session during the HCI Executive Summit, Sharon Conklin, R.N., M.B.A., vice president of sales, Healthcare-IQ, LLC, noted that charges for the same procedure can vary significantly from hospital to hospital. 

She said that the time has arrived for hospital charges vary so much, by using data analytics, mapping it to disparate systems in the health system, and linking it to the system’s P&L.

She said that “actionable business intelligence” is accessing information, and taking action on it to drive change in the organization. Information must be complete and consistent throughout the organization, across spend, facility, doctor, and division, and accessible in seconds, she said. 

Conklin said that according to a recent poll conducted by the company, it asked providers it they were able to access all of the data: only 20 percent said they could look at all of the data most of the time. 

Conklin said gaps that are holding back healthcare are: incomplete information; lack of ability to work across the full continuum of care; cultural change, moving from the “rescue” mode to one of maintaining health and wellness of patients; hospitals understanding of where opportunities are for cost saving internally; and physician education.