Benefits of Real-Time Data in Healthcare

With data forming such a pivotal role in the world today, data analytics is vital to help make sense of the abundance of information that surrounds us. Regardless of the industry or sector, the right analytics solutions can help businesses enhance their marketing efforts, gain a competitive edge, or, as is the case with the healthcare industry, to cut costs, identify opportunities for efficiencies, and improve patient outcomes. 

In the past (and truthfully, even in some organizations today!), businesses have typically relied on historical data when conducting data analysis to help them make key decisions. However, with modern data analytics and visualization tools like Astrato, you can use real-time data to get more accurate and up-to-date insight. Powered by real-time data, these insights serve as snapshots of what is currently happening in your organization, which in turn, enables you to make more assured decisions. 

Over the course of this article, we will be diving deeper into real-time data and the role it plays in the healthcare sector. We will highlight the benefits of real-time data for both patients and healthcare professionals, as well as expand on how Astrato enables real-time data analysis.  

What is real-time data, and why does it matter in healthcare?

Before we can analyze how the healthcare sector uses real-time data, we first need to establish what exactly real-time data is. Real-time data refers to information (aka “data”) that is made available and analyzed from the moment it’s generated (i.e. in real-time).

Common consumer applications of real-time data include GPS systems, but businesses also have begun to deploy real-time data analysis in a number of other environments in order to access up-to-date insights on important processes. One common example is in manufacturing, where a network of sensors help business leaders monitor the quality and accuracy of factory outputs, however, real-time analytics are also being adopted in healthcare settings now, too.

As noted by Northern Kentucky University, “healthcare organizations rely on real-time data to improve productivity and control costs”. There are a number of ways in which real-time data benefits the healthcare industry and supports the work that healthcare providers do. Below, we have highlighted some of the ways in which real-time data benefits both patients and the healthcare industry, itself.

How does real-time data benefit patients?

As outlined in our “How the Cloud meets the needs of the healthcare sector” article, Cloud technology and data sharing are crucial components of the healthcare industry, and real-time data is no exception. Real-time data allows health professionals to access and amend patient data (with permission) on the fly, making patient updates as they occur. As such, this heavily improves patient care, as a clinician can quickly make informed decisions about a patient’s health.

Real-time data also makes patient portals viable. Within a patient portal, patients can see the majority of their public health records, which can potentially allow the patient to make a more concerted effort to improve/maintain their overall health. Depending on the feature set of the portal, it could also be possible to communicate in real-time with a healthcare provider to get more insight into any ailments.

Real-time data also makes health apps possible. According to research by Deloitte, in 2020, there were more than 90,000 new digital health applications added to app stores, making for a total of 250 new apps (on average) appearing each day. The proliferation of healthcare apps has empowered patients to monitor and improve their health. However, none of this would be possible without the real-time data that these apps tap into. Popular applications and devices, such as Fitbit, Sweatcoin, Noom and more, all rely on real-time data to track the status and condition of the user and provide real-time progress updates.

How does real-time data support healthcare professionals?

The benefits of real-time data aren’t just limited to patients. Real-time data can also alleviate the workload for healthcare providers as well. 

For example, rather than waiting until the end of their shift, by using real-time data, healthcare providers can make adjustments to patient notes and update them with new clinical information as it’s disclosed. 

While patient notes were traditionally paper-based, many hospitals in the US and beyond now use an electronic health record system to keep and store patient information. Thanks to the capabilities of real-time data, it’s possible to update these electronic health records in real-time, which not only makes the process faster for staff but also lowers the potential for mistakes and can lead to better patient care. 

Finally, real-time data also makes it far easier to transfer a patient’s electronic health record across to different hospitals, since there isn’t a need to mail physical files to each medical facility. As such, this can also become an added benefit for patients as it can help them receive the right care wherever they are.

How does Astrato enable real-time data analysis?

Astrato understands the importance of real-time data. As a cloud-native data analytics and visualization platform, our industry-leading solution empowers users to drive better business decisions with insights that move at the speed of their data Cloud. 

With real-time data analytics, data scientists, analysts and other key decision-makers can review live data as it is generated. By not limiting the analysis to just historical data, we enable healthcare professionals to make informed decisions based on the latest data. With Astrato, gone are the days when analytics was simply limited to analyzing what happened yesterday or weeks, months and sometimes years ago. By using real-time data analytics, you can see what is actually happening in your organization as it occurs today.

At Astrato, we service all data needs without requiring the user to transfer or copy any sensitive data. Designed with healthcare organizations in mind, we’re HIPAA compliant and work to ISO 27001 standards, which ensures you can work with big data and sensitive data at the same time. Implementing features like these are just a few of the ways we’re committed to providing the highest levels of privacy and security to our customers.

Data analytics case study: The Northeast Georgia Health System

Northeast Georgia Health System (NGHS) is a non-profit community health system that works hard to improve the quality of life of the people of Northeast Georgia. NGHS employs more than 1,200 medical staff members across 50 healthcare specialisms and four hospital campuses, meaning their data needs are sprawling and complex.

NGHS was keen to take advantage of data analytics and planned to build a custom data application. More specifically, an Enterprise Project Management Application (EPMA) that could enhance team communication and improve NGHS’s approach to project management.

When reviewing the options in the market, NGGS identified Astrato as a leading analytics solution that could support these goals and more. Astrato’s simplified UI meant designing and building powerful data visualizations and custom data applications was easy and gave the team more control over the exact features and functionality of their application.

By connecting directly to NGHS’s cloud environment, Astrato eliminated the need to store data in siloed systems, making it much easier to access and analyze data when needed. What’s more, Astrato’s Cloud-native architecture meant staff could quickly add features to their analytics platform as their needs evolved with time.  

The application has been running for nearly three years now and continues to provide insights to the executive and operations team. As a result, NGHS has improved its operational efficiency, strategic alignment, and data optimization.

Get started with Astrato

Using Astrato is simple. Our no-code framework means that you don’t have to be a technical genius or coding master to begin using our solution. Fully compatible with some of the leading names in data, including Google’s BigQuery, Snowflake, Dremio, and PostgreSQL, Astrato is an intuitive and user-friendly platform that is reinventing Business Intelligence. 

With the power of visualization, data teams can create eye-catching and useful data visualizations that help you to find the answers within your data faster. 

For healthcare professionals, Astrato is the perfect analytics partner. Should you desire, our platform can help you to build specialized Software-as-a-Service products, healthcare data analytics apps and other tailored healthcare apps for either your team or patients. In addition, Astrato can also help you to create interactive dashboards and external portals for regulators, patients or suppliers with up-to-date and reliable insights that are built using real-time data.

Discover how Astrato can help your healthcare organization grow and deliver Business intelligence you can trust. Click here to learn more.