According to a recent report from the Framingham, Mass.-based IDC Health Insights, the “lynchpin” to accountable care success hinges on access to timely, completely, contextual, and digestible data. The report includes a survey of healthcare organizations which indicates there is a focus on IT investments in tools for analytics to manage the health of the population.

"All indications, from survey results and from discussions with healthcare thought leaders and technology suppliers, are that analytics is the number one investment priority on the agenda for healthcare organizations engaging in accountable care,” Cynthia Burghard, research director of accountable care IT strategies, at IDC Health Insights, said in a statement.

The four reported capabilities for which healthcare organizations intend to use analytics are the ability to identify patients in need of care management, clinical outcomes, performance measurement and management, and clinical decision-making at the point of care. The highest reported capability was the ability to identify patients/members in need of care management, cited by 66 percent of respondents in IDC Health Insights' 2012 Accountable Care Survey.

According to the respondents of the survey, analytics has become a financial priority for organizations. Investments in advanced analytics such as streaming data monitoring and analysis, text mining, and social graph analysis were also listed by healthcare organizations as a priority. Respondents indicated that data from mobile devices, social media, and unstructured clinical data are being used to support accountable care. However, the biggest data sources were claims data, clinical structured data, and care management data.