COVID-19 Data and Analytics: Survey Reveals Long- and Short-Term Healthcare Industry Impact

Healthcare data and analytics has become inextricable from the COVID-19 response. From emergency department frontlines and hospital capacity planning to vaccine development and future emergency response, the industry has relied on COVID-19 data and analytics to understand the disease, keep populations safe, and eventually reopen communities.

Yet, according to a late 2020/early 2021 Health Catalyst survey of predominantly health system team members, most respondents weren’t ready for the pandemic on the data and analytics front. Most report gaps in the data needed for COVID-19 response, and even more say they’ve had to change operations and processes to capture missing data.

The above lack of COVID-19 data and analytics preparedness contrasts starkly against the industry forecast that the global healthcare analytics market will be worth$70 billionby 2027. While healthcare escalated its data and analytics use during the acute phases of the pandemic, questions arise around these digital resources’ role in the post-pandemic era. How has COVID-19 impacted organizational data and analytics? And are these developments short-term adaptations, or will they continue to shape care delivery and operations?

COVID-19 Data and Analytics: Healthcare Industry Impact

由于调查问题涉及COVID-19对分析的影响，大多数受访者表示他们的分析需求有所增加，包括弥合数据差距和改变能力需求。适当的分析可以让组织在压力下调整和构建他们需要的东西。随着大流行时代的模式和实践延续到新的行业格局，这些见解将塑造医疗数据和分析的近期未来。

COVID-19 Has Significant Impacted the Need for Analytics

Survey feedback leaves little room for doubt whether the pandemic made an impression on healthcare analytics. Over 88 percent of respondents say COVID-19 has impacted their need for analytics, leaving only 12 percent reporting no change in analytics need.

Healthcare Leadership and Financial Roles Are Most Interested in COVID-19 Data and Analytics

领导和财务角色似乎对大流行应对数据和分析最感兴趣。近50%的受访者担任副总裁、高级副总裁或首席执行官。虽然受访者在其组织的多个部门工作，但三分之一的人从事财务工作。绝大多数(92%)在医疗保健系统工作，而剩下的8%在联邦合格的医疗中心(FQHC)或医生团体或诊所工作。COVID-19数据和分析方面的担忧似乎也涉及收入，因为受访者代表了广泛的利润水平。

Capacity and Resource Planning Are a Top Priority

At 63 percent, the majority of respondents say capacity and resource planning has been their biggest driver of pandemic-response analytics, with financial needs a close second at 59 percent. Less than one-third, 32 percent, of participants say COVID-19 impacted their need for population health data and analytics (Figure 1).

Figure 1: COVID-19 impact on the type of analytics needed.

Data and Analytics for COVID-19 Reporting Often Falls Short

More than half of respondents (nearly 60 percent) respondents say they haven’t captured the data they need for COVID-19 reporting (Figure 2).

Figure 2: More than half of respondents didn’t have the data they needed for COVID-19 reporting.

The most reported data and analytics gaps are the following:

• 政府报告的数据，包括检测结果、住院和死亡情况。
• Missing data points due to insufficient systems integration to pull data points and slice and dice data and unreliable data.
• Data on bed, personal protective equipment (PPE), and supplies utilization.
• 预测建模或分析人员和财务需求。

The Pandemic Has Driven Operational Process Changes

Of respondents who say they were not capturing the data they needed for COVID-19 reporting, an overwhelming 88 percent say they’ve had to change their operational processes to collect that data (Figure 3).

Figure 3: COVID-19 impact on the need for healthcare analytics.

Respondents’ most significant operational changes include the following:

• Creating systems to get the COVID-19 data the government required.
• Developing processes to document COVID-19 patients due to EHR vendors not wanting to update their system.
• Having staff perform additional data entry.
• 提取补充信息，如修饰符、拒绝和远程健康跟踪信息。
• 要求一些部门发送报告，使一些报告自动化，并提供手动数据输入。
• 与数据分析团队合作创建额外的报告，并与供应商合作以补充内部能力。

The Pandemic Has Almost Universally Impacted Population Health Strategy for the Long Term

90%的受访者表示，COVID-19影响了他们的人口健康战略。其中，刚刚超过一半的国家正在投入更多资源，将人口健康战略纳入其决策。远程保健和虚拟保健对由大流行病推动的人口保健战略变革产生了极其重大的影响。近80名受访者计划在大流行后继续这些人口健康转变。

Financial Concerns Lead COVID-19 Priorities

An overwhelming majority (78 percent) say their organization’s top priorities around COVID-19 are financial. A majority of respondents also name operational changes and frontline care as urgent areas.

Organizations Prioritize Patient Safety Monitoring Tools

Patient safety monitoring tools have been the top priority for COVID-19 response, with almost 56 percent of respondents ranking them as number one. Financial impact recovery tools follow closely at 52 percent, with capacity planning coming in third at 46 percent (Figure 4).

Figure 4: Priority tools for COVID-19 response.

Health and Safety Lead Personal and Professional Concerns

受访者将健康和安全列为个人和专业大流行问题的主要类别，其次是财务和人员配置问题。Specific examples from each category include the following:

• Health
  • 保持健康不让他人接触
  • Social isolation.
  • Disrupted work and family routines.
  • 经济的不稳定。
  • Impact on mental health.
  • Maintaining regular healthcare.
• Safety
  • 确保家人和同事的安全。
  • Patient safety.
  • Employee safety.
  • 能够安全地完成工作。
• Finance
  • 医院的财政稳定
  • Lack of financial support from insurance companies (e.g., increased reimbursements and coverage).
  • COVID-19患者激增的经济影响。
  • 正在发生的大流行增加了财政负担。
• Staffing
  • Frontline staff engagement, fatigue, and burnout.
  • Maintaining adequate resources (including PPE, staff, hospital capacity, etc.)
  • 保持员工和供应商的参与度，恢复财务状况。

The Post-Pandemic Era of Healthcare Data and Analytics

Was COVID-19 a wake-up call to prioritize healthcare analytics and merge them with other healthcare goals, now that the industry knows it can’t save lives at scale without data and analytics? The need for pandemic-related data and analytics is here for the foreseeable future, with 78 percent of respondents citing financial data as top need and nearly 80 of respondents planning to maintain pandemic-driven population health shifts for the long term.

Only time will tell whether health systems will get their data and analytics houses in order now—before they need them again—or wait for another significant disruption to surface these weaknesses. But with most survey respondents recognizing gaps in their data and analytics and noting COVID-19-driven changes in the data and analytics landscape, the pandemic may likely catalyze a new, more robust era in healthcare technology and decision support.

Additional Reading

你想了解更多关于这个话题吗?Here are some articles we suggest:

1. A Sustainable Healthcare Emergency Management Framework: COVID-19 and Beyond
2. Why Data-Driven Healthcare Is the Best Defense Against COVID-19
3. How a U.S. COVID-19 Data Registry Fuels Global Research
4. Healthcare Data Quality: Five Lessons Learned from COVID-19
5. Six Strategies to Navigate COVID-19 Financial Recovery for Health Systems

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