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2014's most prevalent healthcare and life sciences trends

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Harmeet
New Update

ATLANTA, USA: Liaison Healthcare, a global provider of secure cloud-based integration and data management services and solutions, announced today its predictions for six 2014 trends that will make an impact on the healthcare and life sciences industries.

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Among the predictions are actionable next steps for Big Data, the critical need to implement innovative technologies and the increasing adoption rate of cloud-computing solutions. As each industry wraps up 2013 and looks to prepare for 2014's pain points and challenges - both new and old - Liaison Healthcare gets a head start on analyzing the trends that will be prevalent in the upcoming year.

Healthcare

With industry pressures from the Affordable Care Act and the looming ICD-10 deadline, healthcare organizations are tasked with considering the following trends that will impact the industry:

Big Data - Now what? It's no surprise that Big Data will continue to stay at the top of mind for healthcare organizations in 2014. Providers must now take into consideration how they approach Big Data, setting in to place the next steps to turn critical patient information into actionable insight.

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Collecting patient data across the care continuum allows providers to benefit at a practice level, doling out faster and improved treatment plans to their patients. At a more macro level, providers can benefit by using clinical insight to more accurately assess, predict and manage larger patient populations.

The combined vantage point of clinical, financial and operational data. Providers oftentimes focus on the clinical workflow of their organization to improve patient care. In the coming years, it will be equally as critical to evaluate the financial and operational workflows of running a successful healthcare business.

This new vantage point, or the "pot of gold" at the end of the rainbow, stresses the ability for such solutions to digest clinical, financial and operational data, turning information into actionable insight to be used by providers, payers and patients.

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Technologies to improve patient care and enhance business processes. Industry pressures are a critical factor to the way healthcare organizations consider doing business. Compliance to Meaningful Use and ICD-10, for example, reign as a big challenge that providers must overcome in order to get on with business.

Add to that the need to engage patients in care and there's almost too much to consider. Both providers and patients benefit, however, when healthcare organizations partner with strategic vendors who can provide innovative technologies, including mobile features. On the one hand, providers are armed with automated tools to meet regulatory requirements and enhance business processes.

More time, then, can be spent on the patient. On the other hand, innovative technologies can help the patient by meeting consumer expectations of access to lab results, reports and critical patient data, allowing them to be more active participants in their care journey.

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Life sciences

Drivers such as the Sunshine Act, drug pricing and the push for technology creates three separate trends that life sciences organizations have to keep in mind during 2014:

Working smarter to build the right relationships and leverage the best technologies. The reality is that life sciences organizations are streamlining organizational structures and working more collaboratively with partners. Pharmaceutical companies must focus on ways to be more innovative and work smarter.

Tighter relationships with providers can enhance the collection of structured and unstructured patient information. Strategic partnerships with vendors enables access to the best breed of technologies that address industry needs such as data integration and management, giving organizations more time to focus on research and development or patient recruitment.

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Greater cloud adoption. Adoption of cloud-based technologies will only increase in 2014, as these organizations have spent a lot of time and money to ensure that offerings are regulatory compliant. Given their previous investments, vendors who provide cloud-based solutions are now in a position to provide value without the risk of non-compliance.

Combine fast turnaround implementation time with the ability to reduce operational costs and operate in an increasingly complex environment, cloud computing has the potential to address many of life science's industry pain points.

Big Data is a big deal. Life sciences organizations have been experimenting with Big Data during the last couple of years, so it's now time for these organizations to leverage the lessons learned to grow from their experience. From patient recruitment and clinical trials to market sentiment and pharmacovigilance, life sciences organizations already have a myriad of data points at their fingertips.

As with healthcare organizations, pharmaceutical companies must leverage this information to analyze and create informative analytics. Such critical insights can provide them with the right information to make smarter and more efficient business decisions.