How Collaboration Accelerates Speed to Insight in Healthcare

It’s no secret that collaboration makes the (data) world go round. Collaboration is a vital part of every successful organization in any industry, but in the healthcare industry – in particular – effective collaboration is critical to ensure the best experience for patients and healthcare professionals, alike. But what does collaboration have to do with speed to insight in healthcare?

Healthcare data analytics is a key component of collaboration, and enables healthcare organizations to study past, current, and future patterns, for informed, cross-team, decision-making on a daily basis.

In this blog we are going to talk about how collaboration helps healthcare organizations improve speed to actionable insights in their data analytics – maximizing efficiency, improving data security and bettering the lives of people around the world. We are also going to share some examples of how data sharing and collaboration has and is making a difference to patient care and the healthcare community, as a whole.

Collaboration in healthcare means better outcomes for healthcare professionals and patients

The word ‘collaboration’ means different things to different people (and in different contexts) – data sharing, knowledge sharing, teamwork and communication all underpin great collaboration. For our team at Astrato ‘data sharing’ is one of the first things that comes to mind – we are a data analytics and BI app after all!

So how important is data sharing in healthcare?

“The duty to share information can be as important as the duty to protect patient confidentiality.” – Dame Fiona Caldicott, Former National Data Guardian for Health and Social Care in England 

Writing for NHS Confederation, Dr Shaun O’Hanlon argued that “sharing data is essential if we are to provide the very best care we can to patients”. This is due to a number of reasons that ultimately support faster speed to insight. In short, data sharing:

• Increases efficiency for smoother operations and enables healthcare services to work as seamlessly as possible.
• Streamlines processes and improves resource allocation to reduce pressure on urgent care services. One urgent care center significantly reduced avoidable admissions to A&E by giving clinicians access to the patient’s GP record – faster access to insights meant a full assessment of patient needs could be done before admission. Now, only 20% of patients go on to A&E, while the rest are diverted to more appropriate services. 
• Deconstructs data silos and creates a less taxing environment for patients. In Bristol, a GP-led service has bettered the care of some of the most vulnerable in society. Through data sharing, people attending a walk-in homeless healthcare service don’t have to repeat their complex stories each time they meet a new doctor. Now, with their consent, the GP on duty can access their complete medical record.

These impacts come together to create systems that can work more effectively, and generate vital insights faster. This creates a cycle in which increased speed to insights further improves communication, deconstructs silos and streamlines reporting – benefiting patients and healthcare workers, alike.

Great healthcare data collaboration starts with great tools

To be truly effective, collaboration needs to be embedded into the culture of an organization. Collaboration should underpin the way your team members interact with each other – and their data – on a daily basis. However, BI and data visualization solutions can accelerate this culture shift, boost efficiency and get powerful insights into the hands of those who need it, faster.

There are few key things that make an effective tool for data sharing and collaboration in healthcare:

• Speed. Data insights are gathered in real-time, or as close to real-time as possible
• Accessibility. You shouldn’t have to be a coding wizz to gather insights and make a difference 
• Security and transparency. Healthcare data needs to be kept extremely secure, even when being processed across users and devices. The process must also be totally transparent from beginning to end

The Cloud is one major innovation that has enabled accelerated speed to actionable insight. However, Cloud data storage and analytics provides another huge benefit to healthcare organizations. Cloud systems are generally much more secure than systems that store and manage data locally. Collaboration with local systems requires the constant loading, uploading, sending and receiving of data. Each time data is moved, it is vulnerable to attack or loss. What’s more, local storage means data cannot be deleted remotely if need be. 

Astrato: The Cloud-native BI solution that nurtures collaboration quickly and securely

Modern Cloud-native BI solutions like Astrato can help improve collaboration in your organization, while keeping your data safe. Astrato nurtures collaboration and accelerates access to insights with live commentary, the ability to writeback and collaborate natively (in the same app), and a 360-degree view of your analytics.

Creating informative, compelling and interactive dashboards with Astrato’s easy to use low/no-code UI is easy. Our solution is built for every one of your team members to use – even those with no prior coding experience. Find out more in our Help Centre.

Getting started with Astrato

Getting started with Astrato is easy. Astrato also offers a simple and transparent pricing structure that scales with your business. Also, our team of friendly product experts are on hand to guide you build your ideal BI solution. So, you have an expert on hand to support you from setup, throughout your product journey. 

What are you waiting for? Book a demo with us today to find out more.