Cerner this week announced it is working with Hospital IQ, which specializes in automation technology, to help hospitals and health systems build out their clinical and operational predictive analytics capabilities.

WHY IT MATTERS
As health systems begin to reopen and reschedule surgeries and medical procedures that had been delayed by the coronavirus crisis, the collaboration aims to give health systems near real-time analytics and predictive capabilities – helping them better understand where resources are in use and how they can be more efficiently deployed. 

Beyond the near-term focus on efficiently allocating surgical resources, Hospital IQ and Cerner say they'll work together going forward on new approaches to expanding situational awareness across hospitals and health systems. 

Hospital IQ's cloud-based platform combines machine learning-powered analytics and simulation technology to help hospitals optimize surgical resource alignment, patient flow and staff scheduling.

Using its perioperative software, Cerner can help health systems manage resource allocation by predicting when an OR is in use and assessing how many clinicians are needed to conduct procedures – something that should be in demand in coming weeks as health systems start rescheduling procedures that had been delayed by COVID-19.

THE LARGER TREND
The pandemic has highlighted the critical importance of planning and efficient resource allocation, from personal protective equipment, to staffing, to other essential hospital resources.

In April, Premier teamed up with supply chain-mapping and disruption-monitoring services specialist Resilinc to launch an exchange to locate and trade critical supplies.

A recent opinion piece on Healthcare IT News explored how blockchain and distributed ledger technology could offer an effective way to manage supply chain and other critical supplies.

Other recent initiatives, such as a collaboration between Jvion and Augusta University Health, have focused on analytics to help health systems plan efficient and safe opening strategies.

ON THE RECORD
"With Hospital IQ, health systems can anticipate and predict patient needs, helping them prepare more in advance to coordinate resources across the hospital, emergency department and surgery rooms," said Bob Robke, VP of strategic growth at Cerner. "We’re relentlessly advancing our clients’ successes and constantly looking for new ways to use data that helps them operate more optimally and deliver care more effectively."