{"id":1835,"date":"2016-10-04T04:10:56","date_gmt":"2016-10-04T04:10:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/orionhealth-blog.local\/?p=1835"},"modified":"2025-07-30T01:45:05","modified_gmt":"2025-07-30T01:45:05","slug":"real-time-integration-really-matters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orionhealth.com\/global\/blog\/real-time-integration-really-matters\/","title":{"rendered":"Real-Time Integration REALLY Matters"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Why <\/strong>wouldn\u2019t<\/strong><\/em> a healthcare IT leader concern himself with real-time integration? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

One reason might be that since healthcare data analytics have long been performed against claims data, he might not even be aware of the opportunity real-time integration represents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another reason might be that since healthcare systems vary so widely from one vendor to another\u2014the way EMRs often do\u2014the IT leader would have to develop a fresh approach to integration for every unique system his\u00a0EMR touches, which is exceedingly difficult without a robust\u00a0health information exchange (HIE) system.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet another reason might be that the IT leader is satisfied with merely having integration that\u2019s supported by a batch-oriented data warehouse, and he hasn’t been incentivized to investigate event-driven, real-time <\/em>integration.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

These are all mistakes no enterprise should tolerate. Here are five reasons why.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
    \n
  1. You\u2019re only as good as your data.<\/strong>\u00a0
    If your data isn\u2019t, itself,\u00a0real-time in nature<\/a>, it\u2019s late. Period. Claims data doesn\u2019t come the moment an event occurs\u2014it comes 30-90 days later, which isn\u2019t actionable. If your data is old, your capacity to utilise it is compromised, in the same way that if your ingredients are stale, your capacity to make a fresh meal is compromised.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. You\u2019re only as real-time as your weakest link.<\/strong>\u00a0
    You have different data sources\u2014diagnostic data, procedure data, lab results data, demographics data, etc. If any of those sources\u2014any\u00a0one<\/em>\u00a0of them\u2014doesn\u2019t support real-time integration, your entire system is as weak as that non-supportive source. For example, take lab data. Very up-to-date, right? But say you can\u2019t identify a specific patient against the global enterprise master patient index (EMPI) because the EMPI doesn\u2019t support real-time integration. It wouldn\u2019t matter how up-to-date that lab data is, because who knows who that data\u2019s for?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. The data should be organised for slicing and dicing.<\/strong>\u00a0
    In other words, if the data is normalised and disparate when you perform some analytics, de-normalising it will require complex calculations, which\u2014if you\u2019re dealing with millions of patients\u2014will add up quickly. The task of slicing and dicing the data so that you can squeeze additional intelligence out of it will become incredibly difficult.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. You can\u2019t stratify patients instantaneously without real-time integration.<\/strong>\u00a0
    But\u00a0with<\/em>real-time integration, you can identify a time-sensitive issue like a 30-day readmission risk\u00a0as you receive the data<\/em>\u00a0and make a decision\u2014right then and there\u2014about what to do with that high-risk patient.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. If the\u00a0analytics aren\u2019t performed in real-time, then they can\u2019t be integrated into a clinician\u2019s workflow.<\/strong>\u00a0
    And that means the clinician can\u2019t act upon them. I can\u2019t tell you how many times I\u2019ve heard complaints from clinicians about how often they have to log in and out of any number of different systems just to get the information they need. They just don\u2019t have time for that.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    The IT leader who understands these five reasons puts his organisation in an infinitely better spot than the one he found it in. While he may have his initial reasons why he hasn\u2019t concerned himself with real-time integration yet, any IT leader who fully internalises the five reasons above should quickly recognise the advantage it can create for the enterprise. And if you\u2019ve got an IT leader like that, take heart\u2014you\u2019ve got a partner who\u2019s truly looking out for your business, one who recognises the value of striving beyond \u201cgood enough\u201d and toward a future where an essential feature like real-time integration isn\u2019t a nice-to-have, but a must-have.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Why wouldn\u2019t a healthcare IT leader concern himself with real-time integration?  One reason might be that since healthcare data analytics have long been performed against claims data, he might not even be aware of the opportunity real-time integration represents. Another reason might be that since healthcare systems vary so widely from one vendor to another\u2014the way EMRs often do\u2014the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":1836,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[96,44],"region":[23],"class_list":["post-1835","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-interoperability","tag-population-health-management","region-global"],"yoast_head":"\nWhy Real-Time Integration Is Essential in Healthcare IT - Orion Health<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Discover five key reasons real-time data integration is critical for patient risk stratification, workflow automation, and timely decisions.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/orionhealth.com\/global\/blog\/real-time-integration-really-matters\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why Real-Time Integration Is Essential in Healthcare IT - 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