Making Dollars And Sense Of Growing Clinical DataMaking Dollars And Sense Of Growing Clinical Data

The rollout of e-prescription, digital medical record and other clinical systems by healthcare providers is undoubtedly creating gigantic new mountains of data. The next big challenges for healthcare is in using that data to make better clinical decisions and save costs, and becoming more proactive in helping patients avoid imminent medical problems.Well-established business intelligence software vendors surely see opportunities there, as do start-ups and newcomers. That includes Anvita Health, which has been developing clinical decision support software since 2000 and began shipping product last year. If you haven't heard of the San Diego-based company before, you may recognize the company's previous name SafeMed, which changed it moniker to Anvita Health in February.

The company's software analyzes clinical data "holistically" from a range of sources, including claims, electronic medical records, e-prescribing, disease management and other systems. The company's old name seemed to convey a technology focus mostly on drug safety. While that's part of what Anvita's analysis covers, it's not the only thing, says the company's CEO Richard Noffsinger.

"It's estimated that in five years, one-third of world's data will be medical data," Noffsinger says. "There are tons of medical data now, and that's growing," he says.

Anvita's goal is to help companies, including healthcare providers, insurers, disease management, prescription drug benefit providers, and others analyze their data "broadly and deeply" from many views and set up priorities. That might include alerting patients and doctors when, say a diabetic with a host of other medical problems has a dangerous gap in care--like missing important tests or failing to refill key drugs, he says.

Ultimately, employers could also reap the benefits of healthcare data analysis and improved clinical support, he says. Healthier patients also mean a healthier workforce. And if you follow the optimistic thread, lower worker healthcare costs could eventually help translate to a healthier bottom line for employers.

Is your organization using clinical support tools to improve patient care, cut costs? Tell us about it.