Mercy Health – Lorain: Improving patient care quality through data-backed insights

How enterprise-level oncology data prevented short-term patient leakage and expanded future offerings

Introduction

Spread across Ohio and regions of Kentucky, the Mercy Health System’s network of physicians and shared community principles have focused on meeting underserved populations with compassion and state-of-the-art treatment for over a century. In 2017 alone, Mercy Health invested over $380 million in community wellness programs for patients without adequate health resources.

A part of the larger Mercy Health system, Mercy Health – Lorain Hospital was specifically awarded Healthgrades® Patient Safety Excellence Award, among many others, for three consecutive years. Despite the hospital’s top-notch patient cancer care, competitive offerings from neighboring health care systems combined with mounting patient migration rates necessitated a review of their oncology program.

To accelerate quality improvements and continue the legacy of excellence, Ben Kosewski, Director, Oncology Service Line at Lorain, and his team sought to unlock the power of clinical and patient demographic data to address the challenges above. The 215-bed, nonprofit, full-service hospital knew they needed a strategic approach, backed by data to make informed and targeted decisions.

In collaboration with Q-Centrix to implement Oncology Market Analytics technology, the team identified answers and previously unrecognized growth opportunities for not only their cancer offerings, but also patient education practices and overall patient care quality. Within months, they turned their wealth of patient data into easily accessible, centralized performance insights that helped solidify their place as one of the top health care providers in the region.

"Within months, Mercy Health - Lorain turned their wealth of patient data into easily accessible, centralized performance insights that helped solidify their place as one of the top health care providers in the region."

Goals:

  • Enhance patient data usage to set competitive benchmarks for cancer program
  • Gather enterprise-level insights from data
    • Identify significant trends and patient demographics
    • Determine causes of patient leakage and migration
    • Track patient care to completion to prevent fallout
  • Understand patient needs to improve oncology offerings
    • Ascertain what the registry is capturing (example: post initial care patient movements)
  • Determine strengths of existing program and opportunities for quality improvement

Challenges:

  • Highly competitive cancer offerings from neighboring health care systems
    • Some patients opted for other options after initial care at Mercy Health – Lorain
      • Often patient preferences for services were based on knowledge of the cancer care in the community
  • Difficulty distinguishing demographics of their patient population from those of other nearby health care systems
    • Available registry information was time-consuming and challenging to obtain
      • Applied technology to identify and prevent communication inefficiencies from pushing patients to seek other options
  • Outdated technology
    • Tedious work required to abstract data Solution implementation was slower than ideal

Solutions

Mercy Health - Lorain upgraded to Q-Centrix’s Oncology Market Analytics technology, which delivered:

Real-time updates
User-friendly data visualization
Centralized patient information
  • Used upgraded technology to capture patient leakage
    • Provided insight into trends and the “who, what, when, where, why and how” of patient migration/leakage
      • Applied technology to identify and prevent communication inefficiencies from pushing patients to seek other options
  • Implemented rapid response change where possible to prevent patient leakage and related clinical fallout

Outcomes

  • Enhanced existing high-quality cancer program and offerings
    • Quick and effective rapid change model based on data provided from partner dashboards
      • Less time consumed on tracking data due to better user interface
  • Better comprehension of gaps in oncology program/offerings and services
    • Enhanced understanding of patient needs
    • Focused provider recruitment strategies to address the gaps in services
    • Improved communication around current cancer services and offerings to patients
  • Easier and more realistic benchmark setting
  • Reduced patient leakage and migration
    • Insight into competitor’s comparative patient care quality
    • Insight into patient demographic data
    • Improved tracking of the patient post initial care, reducing fallout

Conclusion

Leveraging enterprise oncology market data analytics software, the team was able to mitigate patient leakage and identify future demand. The enterprise-view insights identified gaps in patient education as a primary cause of leakage, leading to increased prioritization of education efforts during initial oncology appointments. As a part of their comprehensive solution plan, demographic data was also used to create targeted benchmarks for the future and optimize their cancer offerings. Today, Mercy Health – Lorain’s oncology service line continues to engage with revitalized data analytics capabilities to find more patient care quality improvement opportunities.