Data, information, knowledge: a healthcare enterprise case study

An efficient, integrated health services delivery enterprise requires the ability to coordinate service delivery across the provider network and avoid duplication of services. It must be able to associate relevant clinical information with patients regardless of which facility delivered the services. There are significant challenges in collecting, organizing, and extracting value from data collected in the course of providing healthcare. This paper follows a large urban public healthcare enterprise in its attempts to address some of these challenges. Using a case-study methodology, the paper shows how information technology (IT) can help a healthcare organization derive improved information and generate knowledge from data stored in disjoint systems.