Seha pioneers Business Intelligence to improve healthcare quality

"Seha is on a journey to deliver world-class healthcare to the residents of Abu Dhabi," according to Seha's Managing Director, H.E. Saif Bader Al Qubaisi. "In order to deliver on our vision, our managers need to be able to measure the quality and cost of the health services provided to our patients. Business Intelligence gives us the tools and information to support our managers to achieve this vision."

Seha's Chief Executive Officer, Mr Carl V Stanifer, said that Seha has continued to add new functionality and data sources to its Business Intelligence tools since launching its Business Intelligence Portal in September.

"In the past, managers did not have easy access to information from the key systems supporting their health services", said Stanifer. "This powerful tool enables Seha's Executives and Managers to have one click access to a comprehensive range of clinical, operations, human resource and financial information," he said.

Seha authorized managers can now log on and in one place, view Key Performance Indicators, productivity reports and financial data, track the trends in patient volumes and insurance claims, and measure the clinical activity in each Seha facility.

Clyde Eder, Seha COO summed it up this way: "The power of Business Intelligence lies in the ability to collect and consolidate data from various source systems and draw new insights, analysis and support for decision making across the Seha HealthSystem".

Seha's Chief Financial Officer, Mr. Allen Harris, commented that managers across the Seha HealthSystem network at clinic, hospital and enterprise level are able to access up to date information and reports appropriate to their role and needs. "They benefit from timely access to critical information for managing problems and opportunities within their health services," he said.

Seha's Chief Information Officer, Mr Robert Pickton, said the Seha HealthSystem Business Intelligence Portal is available to authorized users on both the Seha HealthSystem network and via secure Internet access.

"As with any tool, training is important", said Pickton. "Staff, Managers and Executives across Seha have undertaken training on the Business Intelligence tools in order for them to better manage their service to patients. Although we utilize secure Internet access, the data gathered in the Seha HealthSystem Business Intelligence Portal does not collect information to identify individual patients. Electronic patient records are on a completely separate, secure system guaranteeing the confidentiality of our patient's records. Only the statistical data flows to Business Intelligence," he said.

Seha began its plan for Business Intelligence in September last year when the Phase 1 release delivered Daily Indicators of Clinical Activity, Financial Analytics, eClaims reporting and Productivity Management to the business users. This was followed in April this year with Enterprise dashboards for Performance Reporting and in-depth statistical analysis of the clinical cases occurring across the Seha health network.

Seha has a plan for a third Phase to be delivered early next year which will build on the foundation implemented so far, providing Managers with analysis of the cost of clinical services and the ability to model predicatively its revenue from health Insurers and patients.

Seha will also develop custom modules for reporting information tailored to Seha's management needs. This has been made possible with the support of its vendor, Anthem Healthcare Intelligence, a US based organization specializing in Business Intelligence tools for the healthcare industry. "We believe client organizations and specifically executives with large diverse healthcare enterprises like Seha will perform more efficiently if they have timely, accurate information. Anthem systems provide CEO's and other executives of healthcare organizations that 'at a glance' snap shot no other software application can provide." said Roy Mathews, CEO for Anthem Healthcare Intelligence.