Earlier this month, we had a chance to catch up with Dan McGuinn, Vice President of Hospitals and Laboratories at Halfpenny Technologies, to discuss what’s new inHealthcare Excellence. The first thing that comes to mind when one meets Dan is that he loves data. Not only is data his life’s work but he’s personally passionate about the impact data can make in healthcare.

“Recently I was in the hospital with my Dad. He’s okay, but the process really opened my eyes to something in a first-person way that I knew was true from my work.

“More than any other industry, healthcare has a lot of data, a lot of qualitative and quantitative data is available from every single interaction. And the number of interactions only escalates with an aging population. “Data has real value in creating a continuum of care. But. And this is a big one. ONLY if it’s available.”

Dan shared. “With this most recent experience with my Dad I could see how the Emergency Department was at a loss by not having direct insights from a practitioner in another location. It really re-energized me as my team partners with Accumen to make an even greater impact in the healthcare space.”

Dan went on to highlight 3 ways Accountable Care Organizations (ACO’s) have a real opportunity to be the partner that brings all the disparate data sources together.

  1. ACO’s primary goal is to keep people out of the hospital. When practitioners of various specialties have integrated data sources it allows them to see a patient holistically and because of that view they’re far less likely to create an event that would necessitate a trip to the ED leading to a hospitalization.
  2. As specialists become more accessible to the general population, the information from those specialists can be in danger of being misunderstood or forgotten. When the specialist discusses treatment, the patient is frequently in a somewhat impaired state, not properly able to advocate for themselves. With the addition of an engaged ACO facilitating the sharing of critical data, the patient is better supported.
  3. Data theft and fraud is now one of the most litigated matters in businesses and the risks of data misuse while maintaining proper access to data is an area that many hospitals and hospital systems simply don’t have the technical experience to support without substantial risk. Trusted partners in managing, storing, and making the right data accessible to the right parties will be critical for systems and ACO success.

The inherent need for data to be shared and managed properly is essential to successfully care for the patient and is something healthcare cannot afford to get wrong. For more from Dan, you can follow him on LinkedIn or get in touch with him directly via email at dmcguinn@halfpenny.com.