New paradigms for new problems: expanding information technology in healthcare

As healthcare moves from individual fee-for-services and single hospital systems to capitated contracts and integrated delivery systems (IDS), and then into Community Health Information Networks (CHINs), implementing a data warehouse is a realistic way to collect and transform data into meaningful information. However, healthcare differs from other industries because of its complexity. The software is more specialized, and many vendors have adopted proprietary operating systems that hold critical data hostage. Even when available, data is not integrated and is more convoluted than in other industries. To have a complete patient profile, there can be 750 critical data elements in a healthcare transaction, as compared to an estimated 150 data elements in a financial transaction. Historical, behavioral, and diagnostic information is needed at multiple points along the continuum of care: physician's office, rehabilitation, pharmacy, emergency room, laboratory, and hospital. Additionally, these points along the continuum must communicate with the community they serve and the purchasers of healthcare. This article looks at data warehousing and the different technologies available for consolidating and integrating information in the healthcare environment.