The question for the future isn’t how much data you have but what are you going to do with that data. With so much data produced in healthcare, it’s a wonder why the digital revolution in healthcare has never come to fruition. This is the opportunity for Decision Support Systems (DSS) to evolve. DSS help healthcare entities make better evidence based decisions by leveraging data. Clinical Decision Support Systems will present a new set of solutions and a new set of problems for helping to manage healthcare.
Undeniably, DSS will help organizations move from volume to value based care. DSS can reduce medical errors, unnecessary duplicate testing, reduce hospital admission and length of stay, and disseminate information through reports and alerts. It works best when all employees are on board.
There are also problems with DSS systems. Organizations can be overwhelmed by data intoxication. Having too many alerts creates fatigue. The alerts have to comply with HIPAA and HITECH. The other difficulty is the lack of communication between different systems such as the financial, laboratory, and administrative. A problem in one system can create problems in another system.
Organizations shouldn’t be deterred from trying new DSS systems. As long as organizations look at these systems with the right expectations, they can still reduce costs and provide better care.