At the Becker's ASC 21st Annual Meeting in Chicago on Oct. 24, Craig Miller, MHA, FACHE, director of Specialty Physicians of Illinois, and Brad Hefland, director with Sg2, explained how access to ambulatory data can allow healthcare leaders to understand their market and plan for the future.
"Without data, how do you answer those deep strategic [forward-looking] questions," said Mr. Hefland. Sg2 was able to provide the Specialty Physicians of Illinois with data on the organization's neighboring providers' market share and case volumes by disease and procedure.
With that data, the Specialty Physicians of Illinois group was able to create key objectives, build a managed care strategy, assess physician recruitment needs and identify desirable provider partnerships. "This shifts the conversation from 'This is what I think is happening' to actually bringing hard data to the fore," said Mr. Hefland.
Healthcare leaders are able to determine the best way to interact with other key market players. Does it make the most sense to acquire another partner? Partner with them or compete with them?
Data is a powerful tool, but it must be used correctly and carefully analyzed. "The good and the bad of data: It can tell you what you need to do, but it can also be so expansive that you drown in it," said Mr. Miller.