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Healthcare records are a valuable resource for the healthcare industry because of the information they contain. The ones predominantly in use today are the electronic health records or EHRs. They are stored with, at the very least, lab results, diagnostic imaging results, and hospital visits. If a care provider’s office is hooked into the regional EHR, then care provider visits will come up as well. If a hospital uses electronic charting, all of the records from a hospital visit (vital signs, blood sugar levels, assessments, etc.) will also be on it.

Imagine a patient walks into her physician’s office, swiping off the notification on her smart-watch or phone reminding her of her appointment. The physician too, glances at her computer and with just one click, pulls up the patient’s records. The records have every information, right from her past immunizations to her family’s medical history and the physician bases her questions on the obtained patient history.

The Becker’s Hospital Review 3rd Annual Health IT + Revenue Cycle Conference recently concluded after hosting a range of discussions on modern healthcare. The conference started with a keynote address by the ex-president of the US, George W. Bush. From all over the US, healthcare experts and distinguished thought leaders in the field of health IT gathered here to share useful knowledge to discuss the role of informatics, data analytics, mobile health, EMR issues, trends, and revenue cycle challenges like denials. As many as 150 speakers and 7 keynote speakers from various care organizations around the US attended the event to offer their personal insights and actionable takeaways.

Most of us have a very linear approach when it comes to dealing with data. If A and B are above a definite number, C has to be a certain value. Not just sometimes, but all the time. And I think it’s safe to say that healthcare data isn’t that way. It’s complex and at times inconsistent, making it difficult to perform a linear analysis.

The number of Accountable Care Organizations in the US has grown exponentially. Currently, there are more than 900 public and private ACOs spread out in the U.S. According to a breakthrough report by CMS highlighting the performance of ACOs, a total of $466 million were saved for Medicare in 2015. The key point to notice- only one-third, 31% of the ACOs managed to generate enough savings to qualify for bonuses.

Data integration is a daunting task for organizations in every sector. We are generating and collecting more data than ever before. However, due to system and integration challenges, we are only halfway through understanding that data and transforming it into knowledge.