IDC PlanScape: Healthcare Data Platforms for Providers

This IDC PlanScape serves as a guide for senior IT leaders and professionals within healthcare provider organizations on healthcare data platform technology initiatives. It aims to empower CIOs and their direct reports, senior IT directors, IT architects, and IT buyers across various business areas in undertaking investments and planning functions for healthcare data platforms. The document outlines benefits and challenges, identifies key stakeholders, and discusses effective implementation strategies. It emphasizes the necessity for healthcare provider IT leaders to balance innovation with security and compliance while fostering clinician adoption and maintaining operational efficiency. It ensures they understand that transitioning from isolated data systems to a cohesive data platform is not just an upgrade but about rethinking and reshaping how healthcare organizations leverage and excel with data. The document provides detailed insights into data platform architecture, governance, compliance, and user adoption as it applies to healthcare providers via a structured approach aiming to help organizations lower risks, optimize ROI, and enhance patient care, operational efficiency, and financial sustainability, building on previous work by IDC on healthcare data platforms for providers in the areas of vendor evaluation and selection (see IDC MarketScape: U.S. Healthcare Data Platform for Providers 2024-2025 Vendor Assessment, IDC #US50494523, December 2024), best practices (see IDC PeerScape: Peer Insights to Maximize the Impact of Healthcare Data Platforms for Providers, IDC #US52771224, December 2024), and foundational thinking (see IDC TechBrief: Healthcare Data Platforms, IDC #EUR151908223, March 2024). "Healthcare providers that adopt and excel in utilizing modern data platforms will be well positioned to lead in delivering data-driven, value-based care. In contrast, those that lag will struggle to meet increasing expectations and regulatory standards," said Mutaz Shegewi, senior research director for Worldwide Healthcare Provider Platforms and Technologies at IDC. "Investing in a modern data platform enables healthcare providers to consolidate clinical, operational, administrative, and even patient-generated data. This results in improved decision-making, enhanced patient outcomes, and greater operational efficiency, all while ensuring compliance in a rapidly changing regulatory landscape."