Helping hospitals cope with their many challenges through better use of decision-making information
Helping hospitals cope with their many challenges through better use of decision-making information
The cost-cutting policy led by the Belgian government over the last few years has made balancing finances one of the biggest concerns for hospital management. The growth in healthcare spending as the population continues to age puts more pressure on the Belgian national health insurance system. This trend is forcing public authorities to place new budgetary restrictions on healthcare institutions.
One of the most striking consequences of the need to offer more and more costly treatments with an ever more tight budget, was a series of hospital mergers, leaving Belgium with just over 100 institutions. But more needs to be done to keep the social security ship afloat for future generations.
Multiple challenges
For one thing, hospitals find themselves confronted simultaneously by a series of challenges. How to comply with ever more stringent government regulations, without comprising service and a personal approach? How to harmonize tight financial resources with the rising costs of ever more complex medical developments? How to cope with more assertive patients, using a more critical approach in terms of the choice of establishments?
More generally, there is a growing need for transparency, clear objectives and increased responsibility, supported by performance measurement. But how to reconcile this with the fact that bigger-sized hospitals – a consequence of the mergers – keep their decision-making information stored in isolated systems, preventing a global visibility of data?
Hospitals clearly find themselves being hampered in their various activities by a lack of efficiency and a high level of handling complexity.
Business Intelligence geared towards hospital management
“Hospitals have to reduce their handling complexity and rethink the healthcare process”, says Frank Swaelens, Commercial Director, Forcea NV/SA. “Sound management methods, inspired by the private sector, but adapted to the specific needs of healthcare institutions, are of paramount importance. They ensure better allocation of the available resources, enhanced productivity and a more patient-focused policy.”
“Only a specialized Business Intelligence system can relieve the increasing administrative burden, cope with the growing number of regulations and streamline the intricate information exchanges between hospital services and the outside world”, explains Frank Swaelens. “Hospital management cannot operate efficiently any longer without a consistent view of critical healthcare data. Different versions of the truth should be avoided at any cost, while sound information distribution helps to align staff on the overall goals. Forcea’s HealthReport solution gives hospitals the means to tighten control on their decision-making information.”
HealthReport at the CHU Hospital
The “Centre Hospitalier Universitaire” (CHU) Brugmann, or Brugmann University Hospital, is one of the largest hospital complexes in Brussels, with 2,000 FTE employees. This public hospital is linked
to the Brussels ULB-VUB University, and is responsible for the final training of almost 100 doctors
yearly.
The need to harness the data streams, get a correct view on income and expenditures at any given moment, and acquire a good grip on its situation to support its policy in the longer term, were all reasons pushing the hospital towards the implementation of a Business Intelligence solution.
“Hospital management also found that preparing reports still required too much manual work. Some of it was redundant too – due to the large number of services and medical specialties on several geographically dispersed sites”, says Frank Swaelens. “They wanted to limit report production efforts to allow for more in-depth analysis.”
HealthReport was primarily selected by the CHU Brugmann hospital because it was developed in hospitals for hospitals. Moreover, it relies on the reputable, flexible Cognos technology, tried and tested by market leaders in the field of Business Intelligence and Data Warehousing. The HealthReport Data Warehouse can rely upon an Oracle, IBM DB2 or an MS SQL Server database.
The CHU Brugmann hospital now uses HealthReport as a base for reporting, analysis, operational management and budgeting. According to Frank Swaelens, direct and indirect returns on its investment are important: “They cannot imagine running a hospital of this size without a Business Intelligence solution of this kind. Their information is consistent, while being distributed in an automated way. Accounting and budgeting have become more accurate and reporting always gives them an up-to-date picture of where they stand.”
This artcile is submitted by Franks Swaelens.
Posted on May 28th, 2008 by Guest
Filed under: Business Intelligence
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