HIMSS Analytics Makes a Healthy Upgrade

Diagnosing the Problem

HIMSS Analytics is a part of HIMSS (Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society). Through HIMSS Analytics’ suite of benchmarks, customers receive guidance via a series of models, assessment tools and advisory services. “We help healthcare organizations take their organizations to the next level by assisting them in measuring and understanding the value they bring to the healthcare market,” explains Miranda Ladue, VP, Operations & Solutions Management. A few of the many measurements available are:

• EMR Adoption Model (EMRAM) Score measures the client’s implementation and adoption of elec
• Value Score is a measure of an organization’s ability to realize value – clinical, financial, or otherwise – through the optimized use of IT.
• Continuity of Care Maturity Model (CCMM) model helps providers around the world understand their strengths and opportunities for improving.

Prior to HIMSS Analytics’ collaboration with GoodData, clients could only download data into their spreadsheet or database programs, or view their reports as PDFs. As a result, the information was difficult to disseminate; many clients had to rely on their tech teams to download the data and send it to the appropriate managers.

Also, the system only provided standard reporting with no customization features, so individual users were unable to drill down to the specific information they needed to make decisions.

In addition, even minor changes had to be made by the development team, typically requiring four to six months. New features and updates required similarly long.

A Prescription for Success

“We wanted a solution that would let novice users easily find what they’re looking for — without even knowing what they’re looking for,” Ladue recalls. “We wanted to give them the tools to drill down into more detail if needed.”

When HIMSS Analytics’ leadership realized that an analytics distribution platform was needed, their first thought was to develop it in house.

“Then we took a step back and asked ourselves, ‘Is this really something we want to develop and maintain on our own,” says Ladue, “or do we want to go to the experts who do this every single day?’”

HIMSS Analytics began the formal process of looking at data distribution vendors. “Our database product accounts for 80 percent of our business,” Ladue explains, “so this was a huge investment for us. If our database solution doesn’t exist, we don’t exist as a company.”

The team recognized that the solution would need to simplify the complexity inherent in the database while maintaining the hierarchies they needed. “We didn’t just want to put a user interface on our existing database,” Ladue says. “We needed to transform the data into a usable, visual resource. We needed a true analytics distribution platform to easily share customized data with many types of users with very different needs.”

GoodData offered a solution that delivered on all technical requirements, enabling users to build reports on their own, with a user-friendly interface that produced clean, easyto-read outputs. Implementation began and the company launched its go-to-market rollout just five months later.

A Successful Operation

“Success for us is a client saying ‘I can’t sell or do strategic marketing without HIMSS Analytics,’” says Ladue. “We can see how often our clients are using the product and what they’re looking at,” which gives HIMSS Analytics a unique perspective on the success of their platform, and allows for them to tailor their solution to where they are or are not seeing usage.

Improved Relationships and Increased Client Retention:

HIMSS Analytics exposes its clients to the same amount of data, but now even novice users can easily drill down to find the information they need to meet business objectives.

More people within client organizations are using the analytics and benefiting from the insights it offers. As a result, HIMSS sees an improved retention rate and more satisfied customers. “We are very pleased to be able to have a platform that allows us to tailor our insights to the needs of a particular client. This allows us a level of customization that creates a more meaningful experience for our users,” notes Ladue.

Serving a Broader Audience:

HIMSS Analytics Logic offers an analytics engine that allows clients to easily gain crucial insights to guide your healthcare IT strategies and to target opportunities. Ladue recalls a client whose standard practice was to have a few IT users disseminate information out to the sales staff. “As soon as they saw the HIMSS Analytics demo,” she recalls, “they signed up their entire sales staff, because they didn’t have to do the analysis or report dissemination anymore. The reports became available to the entire sales team immediately, thereby freeing up the tech team to spend their time and resources on more strategic initiatives.”

Enabling DIY Customization:

Collaborating with GoodData allows unprecedented levels of customization that users can do themselves. “Clients don’t have to request changes from the development team anymore,” says Ladue. “Now they can focus on how their organization sells or how they want to go to market. The new analytics distribution platform puts the power of report design in users’ hands while also saving them time.”

Faster Release Cycle:

HIMSS Analytics can now focus on continuously iterating to improve and enhance their offerings, as new features and updates occur in 2-4 weeks instead of the 4–6 months they used to require. The company can quickly respond to customer requests to meet their business needs.

A final benefit of HIMSS Analytics Logic is that it gives the company an opportunity to broaden its market. “The healthcare IT vendor space is consolidating,” explains Ladue. “We have always done well in the large and midsized market, and historically it’s been a challenge to gain traction with smaller organizations. Now we have a solution that speaks to their needs, and those new channels mean new growth opportunities for HIMSS Analytics.”

“It was very important that we were selecting a partner and not just a technology,” concludes Ladue. “Our collaboration with GoodData has enabled us to offer clients a real analytics distribution platform, which gives us the opportunity to enter new markets sooner than we anticipated, opens up new revenue streams, and, best of all, reinforces our position of leadership in the healthcare IT field.”

Additional resources

If you’d like to discover more about embedded analytics and the GoodData platform, we have a number of additional resources available. Visit GoodData’s embedded analytics website to learn more about different types of embedded analytics, solutions, benefits, and additional customer success stories.

Embedded analytics trial

With the embedded analytics trial, you can see GoodData’s analytics platform embedded in an application’s user interface so you can get a clear example of what embedded ad hoc data discovery looks like. Explore a demo application enhanced by analytics visualizations, then create analytical insights using an intuitive drag-and-drop experience.