Honeycomb for
Healthcare
Today’s health systems gain a competitive edge through their data.
This includes hospital records, patient medical records and results, smart devices, biomedical research, and more. The analytics that can result from this data have significant potential to drive and improve value-based care for patients, the use of assets, the utilization of resources, and ultimately, effect revenue.
Though health systems already have all this data at-hand, the process of figuring out just what it says isn’t so simple. Info is siloed across multiple programs and offices. Then there’s the security risk of a cloud integration, and the high-demand nature of the healthcare environment itself, where there may never seem to be enough time or resources to go around.
But at the same time, digital transformation in healthcare represents the potential to better serve the most at-risk patients, reduce errors, and make everyone’s life easier. Organizations need to correlate data from across many systems to make better decisions and get better outcomes.
The desire to support health systems to achieve these goals without worrying about the barriers is what drove Moser Consulting to create the Honeycomb solution. Honeycomb centralizes all of a health system’s data into one proven platform that brings actionable analytics to the doorstep.
Let’s explore six features that allow Honeycomb to deliver value quickly, while also nurturing cultural shifts that keep each health system’s future in its own hands. We’ll even share the story of one health system where the digital transformation is already coming into full bloom.
Agile Development by Expert Teams
Honeycomb is developed with built-in strength by the knowledgeable and experienced data experts at Moser Consulting. Our team is continually improving and updating the program to ensure our users receive the most cutting-edge and secure technology. We especially take pride in offering this solution to health system clients, who need automation and analytics but aren’t likely to have the deep IT talent pool or infrastructure to create solutions in-house. This service is a responsibility we take very seriously.
The Vice President of Analytics at Community Health, Amy Heleine, spoke to this benefit when asked about how Honeycomb is making a difference for her team: “We are actively working with Moser to stand up our architecture and relying on their consultants for support,” she said. “Honeycomb is a data lake framework you can use with teams who are beginners in analytics, or more advanced.
We can even change the terminology to match the way we already talk about things instead of having to adapt to their lexicon.” Customizing the Honeycomb solution for each user’s needs and preferences is just part of a day in the life at Moser. Once the product is installed, we keep improving and maintaining it on your behalf, with an eye to compliance as well.
Automation and Modernization Best Practices
Allowing clients to customize the Honeycomb platform is just the beginning of the IT modernization best practices we have integrated. During the eight-week process of implementing Honeycomb at your health system, we have two teams working in tandem to ensure that automation is done in a way that serves your needs first. Our engineering team focuses on designing and deploying secure frameworks to get your data out of silos across the organization and collect it all in one place.
At the same time, your personal Product Owner is doing all the fact finding they can about your organization’s business strategy. They are also listening to form ideas and considering the data insights your team could draw value from. Ultimately, the data and what we’ve learned you need are united in a solution that automatically delivers the unique insights your health system requires.
“In the past, our analytics team would receive a request and just answer that request,” Heleine said. “Now, Honeycomb empowers us to consider the goal of the end user making this request. Clinicians don’t always know what to ask, or what data is available to help them make more informed decisions. Now we can go above and beyond answering their questions.”
When COVID-19 hit the US, Community Health needed to provide caregivers with more predictive modeling, like how much Personal Protective Equipment or how many ventilators would be needed in the future. Through Honeycomb, custom, real-time dashboards were created quickly.
“It’s given us organization in answering requests,” said Heleine.
Data Integration
Honeycomb’s strength begins with simple and accurate data integration. This means taking data from many disconnected systems and analyzing it together in one place. On a basic level, we permit these systems to talk to each other on the topics that will benefit your health system the most.
Using Honeycomb and working with Moser Consulting means that the functionality and security of these integrations is never in question. Over 93% of healthcare organizations have experienced a data breach since Q3 of 2016, and 57% have experienced more than five data breaches since that time.
One in ten American healthcare consumers have had their medical records and other personal data stolen in one of these data breaches since 2015.
Just because you want to do more with your data, doesn’t mean it should be at greater risk during the process. Moser’s team of IT experts is committed to delivering secure and functional integrations that improve the life of your business, not put it at risk.
Data Platforms
Once the data has been integrated, the next feat of strength is the real-time analysis. Honeycomb achieves this by working with the right data platforms. These are the systems that process and analyze the data and provide insights and statistics in return.
“The notion of statistical modeling is a new concept at Community Health, even to some members of our analytics team,” said Heleine. “As we become more data-literate as an organization, our team will be better able to describe what can be learned through the dashboard. Then, that knowledge will transfer to the end users as they better understand just how many questions can be answered through the platform.”
Part of the Honeycomb implementation process is uncovering and exploring a wish list of use cases. Our experts work with internal stakeholders to share insight about how to analyze data within the platform and are also always on-call to provide support. “The solutions Moser’s team provides are both thoughtful and practical,” said Heleine. “They are so approachable if I reach out with any particular need.”
The 60+ person analytics team at Community Health includes information technology experts, developers, clinicians, and training staff, along with one statistician and one data scientist.
“One of our biggest initiatives is data literacy, to make sure everyone’s unique talents help us make the most of the Honeycomb platform,” Heleine shared.
Cloud Solution
The idea behind Honeycomb is for health systems to quickly launch analytics solutions that are so valuable, they lead to long-term cultural shifts and improvements in care. That computing power, provided in real-time, relies on the cloud. Cloud technology allows Honeycomb to scale and meet increasing demand with ease. Whether you need to create lots of new dashboards or just have many users accessing the same information at once, Honeycomb can meet those needs.
Be honest—are you starting to get worried this sounds expensive? Moser Consulting has also made it our priority to help keep costs predictable, clear, and as low as possible. Since the platform is pre-designed and ready to be implemented according to your customizations, pricing is clear and transparent, according to three categories:
Sprint Development: the costs of developing your integrations and unique use cases
Service Cost: the ongoing cost of continuing to call on us for support as needed
Cloud Cost: the costs of cloud hosting
With these clear cost categories, you will always know what you are being charged and why, with no surprise billings or unexpected fees. We know healthcare isn’t always predictable, but we want to be part of the solution, not part of the problem.
Data Exploration and Visualization
The ultimate outcome of implementing Honeycomb is finding the hidden insights and facts that have been part of your data all along. Whether it’s noticing trends in a patient’s needs, a symptom that occurs in common across a population, or which days people tend to cancel appointments most, you’ll be surprised by what you might learn when the data is put to work on your behalf.
“Data and analytics are a component of a clinician’s job, but patients are the focus,” Heleine observed. “We want accessing these analytics to be seamless, so the
quantitative information fits the care provider’s workflow. We want to provide
insights they may not have considered without obtaining that information.”
Compelling and clear data visualizations is one requirement to meet such goals.
A busy doctor, nurse, or hospital president may not have time to look through rows
and rows of data in a spreadsheet. In fact, they almost definitely don’t!
“Sometimes the clinician might be wondering something specific, like how many ventilators are in use. Honeycomb empowers us not only to give them that information, but also to consider the outcome they are trying to achieve with their question—like maybe projecting future capacity,” Heleine explained. “If you just take the question at face value, a lot can be missed. With this platform, our internal project managers can respond in a way that doesn’t just deliver the answer but also delivers results.”
Honeycomb’s simple and clear dashboards make the promises of big data into a reality for your organization. Plus, with real-time updates, users can check to see what is changing and adjust their choices accordingly.
Healthcare Digital Transformation Made Simple
“I have worked with lots of consultants and I never felt like I gained much useful insight that my team could immediately implement,” Heleine recalled. “An idea or solution was presented in a meeting, and then immediately dropped off the radar. I didn’t have a great impression of consultants in general—but I love Moser. I completely trust them and their spot-on guidance.”
We are so grateful and humbled by words like this, which help us stay committed to the track record of client service that has sustained us for 24 years. We developed Honeycomb to be industry-agnostic. We have been beyond gratified to see the ways essential services like healthcare have immediately begun to make the most of this cutting-edge product. At Moser Consulting, we define our success by our client’s success. We would be honored by the opportunity to add yours to the list, or to answer any questions you still might have about Honeycomb.
At Moser Consulting, we define our success by our client’s success.
Honeycomb for Healthcare
Download the full white paper to learn about the six features of Honeycomb in Healthcare.
