Providers Behind Payers With Big Data Use

By Greg Bengel, contributing writer

A recent report finds that healthcare providers are investing much less in big data and analytics than their corresponding payers

A new report from research and consulting firm IDC Health Insights shows that healthcare payers are putting more credence in big data and big data analytics than healthcare providers. The report surveyed approximately 3,500 participants.

The report’s overview says that providers lag behind health plans when it comes to big data and analytics adoption, particularly in two areas:

• “The percentage of organizations with no governance in place for Big Data and Analytics
• The percentage of organizations not using any data management or analytic tools.”

Fierce Health IT summarizes the report’s findings succinctly. “Overall, 80 percent of payer IT decision makers surveyed said that between 1 and 24 percent of their budgets were used on analytics technology; less than half (49 percent) of provider IT decision makers chose a similar path,” says Fierce Health IT. “The big data technology split mirrored the analytics split, with 77 percent of payers saying that they were investing in such tools. Only 47 percent of providers said the same.” Also, 40 percent of providers said that they had no plans to budget money for big data and analytics tools, while only 14 percent of payers said the same.

Why are providers less apt to jump on board? According to report author Cynthia Burghard, Meaningful Use priorities are standing in the way. “Healthcare providers are not likely to catch up in their investments or in the maturity of big data and analytics until at least 2015,” she says in the overview.

Health IT Outcomes recently reported on provider’s feelings regarding big data and what it represents to their industry. Specifically, many providers view big data as a big obstacle. A recent survey from the eHealth Initiative and the College of Health Information Management Executives found that “Nearly 80 percent of respondents felt that leveraging big data and predictive analytics is important to their organization’s strategic plans and priorities. However, this may not match reality on the ground. Eighty-four percent believe that the application of big data and predictive analytics is a significant challenge for their organization.” The survey also finds that “Only 45 percent of respondents feel that their organization has implemented a flexible and scalable plan to adapt to the growing volume, liquidity, and availability of electronic health data.”