I just live-tweeted a general session at Appian World about using the Appian Business Process Management Platform in healthcare, specifically by AmeriHealth Caritas, a Medicaid managed care company in 19 states. Phillip Merrell (VP, IS Strategy & Shared Services) was so good I’ve archived my tweets as a sort of notes slash blog post. Most are self-explanatory, relying on tweeted slides. Several are a bit terse, more reminders to myself, so this is also an opportunity to unpack and provide some context.
Phillip Merrell AmeriHealth Caritas " is going 2 have big play in healthcare longterm"
— Charles Webster MD ⎌ ()
Starting: Putting Data 2 Work 4 Service, Efficiency & Compliance
— Charles Webster MD ⎌ ()
Cool! Value-based healthcare slide at conference! Value = (Quality + Outcomes) / Costs
— Charles Webster MD ⎌ ()
Alert/Workflow, Process/Action prominently displayed in in healthcare presentation
— Charles Webster MD ⎌ ()
Current state "Standardized, cross-functional processes lacking" must standardize
— Charles Webster MD ⎌ ()
People, Process, Technology < is a culture transformation tool
— Charles Webster MD ⎌ ()
Why was our healthcare data bad? Broken, non-standard processes, so fix processes to fix data
— Charles Webster MD ⎌ ()
Healthcare and health IT is extremely focused on collecting data. Business Process Management technology can make sure that data is good clean data, not bad dirty data. Then, BPM can be used to make that data actionable, so that good clean data can trigger all the right processes and workflows necessary to systematically improve population health.
Integrated process management, cross-functional workflows, role-specific UI/content mobile & desktop, triggered tasks
— Charles Webster MD ⎌ ()
Process management, making sure processes do what the healthcare organization needs and does so correctly every time, is integrated into the Appian BPM Platform. Instead of separate, disjoint, databases forcing users to switch from application to application to application, BPM knits together data from multiple sources into coherent workflows, across users, departments, and even organizations. This knowledge of workflow guides what is automatically presented to who and in what manner, so as to minimize user effort. Stuff, the right stuff, happens automatically.
Integration ability running above plumbing, versatile agile, drive change (IMO the workflow layer above data layer)
— Charles Webster MD ⎌ ()
Regarding that “workflow layer above data layer”, I’m referring to the capacity for BPM to make data come alive, and to knit together disparate health IT applications. In fact, I recently wrote two five-part series on exactly this idea! Check out the following to entry points to those 7,000 and 10,000 words series, respectively.
- Task and Workflow Interoperability in Healthcare
- Pragmatic interoperability: Interoperability’s missing workflow layer
Anyway, Phillip’s presentation was a virtuoso display of the understanding and articulation of the forces of change leading toward more use of Business Process Management technology in healthcare!
P.S. By the way, Phillip referred to a conversation with me the night before about consolidation in healthcare: Thanks for the shout-out! 🙂
