There are many elements of business intelligence in play within the healthcare IT continuum, but without a specific focus, the initiative is stuck in neutral. In fact, that is where many healthcare providers find themselves with their BI programs, system specialists say  -  wondering how to proceed and in which direction to move.

But despite whatever paralysis may be going on, it can be eased by keeping an eye on the "end game," says Mike Garzone, solutions director for technology at Buffalo, N.Y.-based CTG Health Solutions.

"We think the end game is the ability of hospitals to improve  -  whether it is through outcomes, a decrease in readmissions, or identifying hospital-borne conditions before they occur, like sepsis or infections," Garzone said. "It comes down to how BI functions with care delivery and how it relates to reimbursement. The end game is about improving how to get there."

In order to steer the BI component in the right direction, hospitals need to make it a priority, which Garzone admits is a tall order in an environment where personnel are preoccupied with meaningful use and other directives. Still, the pieces of a strong BI system are largely in place within the hospital sector and are mostly ready to be deployed, he says.

"We've enabled it  -  we haven't codified everything and it isn't interoperable, so there is still work to do, but it is there," Garzone says. "Now is the time to act and leverage it. We are getting to the point where accountability and performance will really start to matter and that is when BI will bubble to the top."

For the past two years Houston-based HealthPost has deployed a cloud-based search and booking platform that enables BI through the gathering of data and intelligence around the healthcare industry. CEO Omar Alvi describes it as "covering the spectrum and connecting all the points in the healthcare ecosystem."

Engineering a system that resembles both Google and Expedia.com in form and function, HealthPost's core business is improving access to care by increasing hospitals' availability to partner with other providers in the community. The search-and-book digital method replaces what has traditionally been a "slow, cumbersome process" with phone and fax, Alvi said.

"Now all these transactions come through a single point, creating complete data intelligence on who is booking with providers," Alvi said. "With the hospital as the sponsor of these opportunities, the entire outpatient provider network is in alignment. For the first time ever, they have complete visibility into booking activity."

BI capability also allows for data mining on a number of fronts and in fact is superseding the decision support function, says Taylor Moorehead, partner for Carmel, Ind.-based Zotec Partners' west region.

"Imagine a world where there are 425 data points to bill insurance, ranging from ICP to ICD-9 to other points across the board  -  you can dissect all of those data points in a granular way and correlate them to the billable amounts," he said. "BI can take all the different aspects of services and relevant points of the claim and run them in various forms and fashions to mine for all the right data."

Applying analytics