Critical Factors to Improve Healthcare Provider Data Quality

There are numerous benefits to having an independent review to analyze and evaluate the accuracy of your existing provider data. It is imperative, however, to consider several critical factors when comparing data partners. Gathering data quality statistics of your healthcare data will enable you to quantify future improvements and select a data partner whose proposed solution and projected return on investment is right for you and your hospital or healthcare system.  This will provide a benchmark and roadmap demonstrating the potential improvement in the quality of your healthcare data over time and the resulting economic value of those improvements.  

The data partner that is then chosen will have a prominent impact on the resulting quality of your healthcare data.  It is therefore vital to verify if the data partner is including duplicates, inactive providers and deceased providers and thereby conveying a deceptive quality of healthcare data.  Selecting the right data partner to improve and maintain your healthcare data will positively influence operational efficiencies that translate into potentially millions of dollars. A maintenance plan is also crucial to preserve the quality that the improvements have fostered.  Maintaining the quality of healthcare data is just as important as improving it, since 50% of the data will be outdated in only 18 months.   While selecting the right data partner will vastly improve the quality of your healthcare data, it is also the ongoing monitoring, maintenance and reporting that will perpetuate that success.