In a move that could help accelerate the transformation of U.S. health care around evidence-based medicine, Deloitte and Intermountain Healthcare are announcing a landmark alliance around big data and analytics.
The organizations have signed a five-year deal to develop and provide health analytics insights to the medical community, drawing on Deloitte’s leading-class professional services and informatics capabilities and Intermountain’s pioneering experiences in capturing and using data to help clients improve quality and lower costs.
Leaders at both companies say the alliance will help the health care industry unlock the power of big data to reduce costs and improve patient outcomes. They note that health care has arrived at a point in which vast reservoirs of clinical data are collected, but the riddle is how to translate the information into meaningful insights.
“Health care may be on the verge of realizing significant gains from big data, but it takes new tools and new approaches related to collaboration to get there,” said Jason Girzadas, principal, Deloitte Consulting LLP. “This alliance will work to provide the industry with a destination center for the insights needed to change health care.”
Marc Probst, chief information officer at Intermountain, said this development “will help usher in a new wave of innovation throughout the nation’s health system.” He added, “The use of our technologies will allow clinicians and researchers to more quickly discover practices that improve quality and keep costs lower. Research studies that previously might have taken years to complete could be conducted in just a few weeks instead.”
Intermountain has been using computers since the 1970s to amass one of the world’s largest and most detailed repositories of clinical and financial data coming from its 22 hospitals and 200 clinics. The information covers a 40-year span, and because of its longitudinal nature with more than two trillion unique medical data elements, it is particularly effective for medical studies and analyzing optimal treatments for many health conditions.
Intermountain and Deloitte expect to engage other health systems with robust, standardized data in creating a community of medical researchers working with stakeholders across various health sectors. Andrew Vaz, principal, Deloitte Consulting LLP and Deloitte’s chief innovation officer said, “We hope to accelerate the development of what the Institute of Medicine refers to as a ‘learning health care system.’ By bringing data-driven insights to organizations managing care and developing the therapies of tomorrow, we hope to ignite innovation and promote quality, safety and value in health care.”
Among the other potential benefits, the alliance and ensuing consortium could provide insights into which treatments work for certain patient populations. Insights could be gleaned and studies performed in a fraction of the time required by conventional approaches, bringing the appropriate care to the right patient more quickly.
Leaders at Deloitte and Intermountain say the alliance is noteworthy in that it joins the nation’s largest health care consultancy with a major U.S. health system. Deloitte’s life sciences and healthcare practice encompasses 3,700 professionals and serves nine of the 10 largest health care systems; most of the 15 largest pharmaceutical manufacturers as ranked by Med Ad News; most of the top 10 medical device companies (ranked by Medical Product Outsourcing); and nine of the 10 largest biotechnology companies (Med Ad News ranking).
“In addition to Deloitte’s capabilities, our organizations share a commitment to the mission of transforming health care,” said Bert Zimmerli, chief financial officer of Intermountain Healthcare. “Together we will leverage our decades of experience and work to revolutionize the way medical insights are discovered and used to improve care.”
Deloitte brings a deep repertoire of skills and resources in health strategy and operations, including informatics services that help unearth the value embedded within vast layers of data. Among its contributions to the alliance will be “data visualization software” that helps clients decipher patterns out of data.
In collaborating with Deloitte, Intermountain will draw upon its renowned Homer Warner Center for Informatics Research, which includes more than 70 health IT professionals working on data analytics to support evidence-based clinical decision making.
About Intermountain Healthcare
Intermountain Healthcare is a Utah-based nonprofit system of 22 hospitals, 200 clinics, a Medical Group with some 1,100 employed physicians, a health plans division called SelectHealth, and other health services. Intermountain is widely recognized as a leader in transforming health care through high quality and sustainable costs. For more information about Intermountain, visit: www.intermountainhealthcare.org.
About Deloitte’s Life Sciences and Health-Care Practice
Deloitte’s life sciences and health care practice brings fresh insight to clients and industry stakeholders. Deloitte offers a distinctive menu of professional services delivered in an integrated approach that address all segments of the health plan, health provider and life sciences industries. For more information, visit: www.deloitte.com/view/en_US/us/Industries/index.htm
As used in this document, “Deloitte” means Deloitte LLP and its subsidiaries. Please see www.deloitte.com/us/about for a detailed description of the legal structure of Deloitte LLP and its subsidiaries. Certain services may not be available to attest clients under the rules and regulations of public accounting.
