By now, the instrumental role data plays in shaping patient outcomes and operational efficiencies borders on the obvious. But just having access to troves of information spanning the patient or member lifecycle isn’t enough to drive those outcomes.
Inside and out of electronic health record (EHR) systems, insurers and providers have an enormous amount of structured, unstructured, and semi-structured data that, with the right, fully integrated data stack in place, can be aggregated to build a complete, longitudinal view of a member or patient. This view, in turn, empowers data-driven studies and coordination of care.
On their own, Epic Systems and the Snowflake AI Data Cloud are two of the most powerful data systems in the industry, bringing a world of data together in a way that was unimaginable just ten years ago. But the real magic happens when payer and provider organizations can bring EHR and non-EHR data together to paint a bigger picture — of their operations, of their patient or member’s unique history, or of shifts in the medical supply chain — unlocking powerful insights that connect the dots across the whole healthcare system.
In this article, let’s dive into a few examples of the synergies payers and providers can gain from bringing data together in a scalable, secure source of truth, and how these synergies can help build collaboration in a highly complex and difficult-to-navigate industry.
The EHR and Beyond: Elements of a Modern Data Stack for Payers and Providers
Epic’s EHR system serves as a central repository for the vast quantity of clinical knowledge that organizations store to deliver quality treatment and promptly resolve revenue cycle challenges for comprehensive and value-based care as patients move between clinics, hospitals, and outpatient facilities.
More recently, Epic has also implemented AI models for condition management and outcome-driven treatment plans on a host of diagnostic and clinical data.
The Snowflake AI Data Cloud, meanwhile, is a modern data platform that offers a scalable and secure solution to data warehousing while also pushing the envelope for AI and ML in complex, tightly regulated industries like healthcare and financial services.
By way of robust data sharing capabilities and built-in hubs like the Snowflake Marketplace, Snowflake also provides a solution for sharing data easily with clients, customers, vendors and more.This focus on interoperability is the magic that ties all of these systems together and enables leading organizations to continually raise the bar in healthcare.
All Your Data in One Place
While ingestion of Epic’s EHR data into Snowflake’s advanced data warehousing and analytics platform isn’t necessarily the easiest to achieve, successful integration empowers organizations to merge data from multiple sources, ensuring a cohesive and comprehensive view of patient care. Internally, healthcare organizations benefit from a unified dataset that improves the allocation of resources and patient management. This enables targeted interventions, proactive health management strategies, and other transformative capabilities, including:
Advanced Analytics and Insights: The synergy between Epic and Snowflake allows healthcare providers to leverage advanced analytics, transforming raw data into actionable insights. Snowflake’s powerful analytics can be applied to Epic’s vast datasets, uncovering trends and patterns that can enhance patient care, optimize operations, and improve population health management. Coupled with the care coordination of payers, powered with advanced analytic tools, we can see a near real time view of the patient and all care received. Including multiple products (dental, vision, and drug coverage) that may not be seen in Epic alone.
Improved Care Coordination: With real-time access to patient data, care coordination becomes significantly more efficient. The integration enables providers to share information seamlessly, reducing redundancies in testing and procedures. This leads to a more streamlined care delivery process and improved patient outcomes. For example, Admit/Discharge/Transfer (ADT) notices are in some cases still faxed to insurers, if they are received at all. If payers are informed of an admission at the time of admission, care coordination can be more collaborative. Case managers at the payer, with the provider and family can determine the best place of care and transfers can be facilitated with less confusion and greater confidence of coverage all while ensuring patient satisfaction.
Enhanced Interoperability: Snowflake’s platform excels in supporting interoperability, allowing Epic’s healthcare data to be integrated with additional data sources. This capability facilitates a more holistic view of patient health, enabling providers and payers to collaborate more effectively and make informed decisions based on a comprehensive dataset. Hakkoda’s Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) Data Loader accelerator removes the complexities of getting FHIR data business ready, with a low code solution that makes it easy for healthcare teams to build pipelines for loading FHIR data into Snowflake to enable the efficient, secure transfer of healthcare data.
Scalable Data Solutions: One of the standout features of Snowflake is its scalable storage and computing power. Healthcare organizations can manage and analyze large datasets from Epic without the constraints of traditional infrastructure, enabling them to adapt quickly to changing data needs. Payers are able to use Epic data, and Providers are able to use broader claim data to augment information for the more complete view of a member/patient.
Streamlined Billing and Claims: Financial data from Epic, when integrated with Snowflake’s analytics, can lead to optimized billing and claims processes. This integration reduces errors, accelerates reimbursement cycles, and minimizes administrative burdens, allowing healthcare organizations to focus more on patient care. Providers can also be provided with more precise detail for denials to speed the process to appeal, and ultimately reduce friction in the care pathway.
Population Health Management: By combining data from both platforms, organizations can perform sophisticated analyses of population health trends and outcomes. This capability supports targeted interventions and preventive care strategies, ultimately improving the overall health of communities. For example, there is data that is not delivered on a claim that is useful in value-based care optimization. During a procedure like a colonoscopy, Cecal intubation time (CIT) is not captured on a claim. However, Epic does track this metric. NIH studies reveal a longer CIT indicates a difficult procedure and possible conditions. Several value-based programs include this time as a quality metric and a proprietary portal may be needed for capture. Development of that site is usually expensive and slow. If the data was shared directly to the payer through Snowflake the episodic payment could be issued without delay, and could ensure there is not an underlying issue with the patient.
Enhanced Security and Compliance: Both Epic and Snowflake prioritize security and compliance, ensuring that sensitive healthcare data is protected. Their robust features help organizations manage data according to regulatory standards, safeguarding patient information and maintaining trust. Snowflake can provide a platform to share data directly or in
Cost Efficiency: The integration of these platforms can lead to significant cost savings. By optimizing data management and analysis, healthcare organizations can allocate resources more effectively, control costs, and improve financial performance.
Integrating Payer and Provider Systems with a Trusted Data Team
The integration of payers and providers on the Epic and Snowflake platforms offers a transformative approach to healthcare delivery. By combining the strengths of these technologies, organizations can achieve a more unified, data-driven approach, enhancing patient outcomes and operational efficiency. As healthcare continues to evolve, leveraging these synergies will be crucial in creating a more effective and patient-centered system.
All that being said, organizations don’t have to navigate the challenges of integrating these systems alone. Hakkoda’s Healthcare and Life Sciences team is built up of industry experts with years of firsthand experience working with many of the largest payers and providers in the industry. Our team has completed 20+ large scale implementations of Epic data into Snowflake, delivering simplicity, scalability and TCO savings for our clients. Hakkoda’s data integration and optimization projects span the entire payer and provider technical ecosystem, including many migrations from legacy databases, HRIS, ITSM, CRM, EHR, ERP, and more.
Ready to build a data stack that integrates Epic EHR data with other mission-critical sources while slashing costs and shrinking time-to-insight? Talk to one of our experts today.
