Data-driven oversight is gaining momentum in healthcare
The healthcare industry is faced with a greater need for data-driven decision making, motivated by a growing emphasis on transparency, accountability and measurable outcomes. As a result, it’s likely data-driven healthcare regulation will be at the forefront of policymaking in the year ahead, too.
To that end, we have already seen an increase in data reporting requirements:
- The House Ways and Means Committee approved legislation that expands reporting requirements for nonprofit hospitals to provide more detailed information about their community benefit activities to help determine whether those hospitals are delivering enough benefit to the communities in exchange for their tax-exempt status.
- Hospitals are now required to meet price transparency requirements or face steep penalties.
- Policymakers have put forward 340B legislation designed to provide greater visibility into program operations and outcomes. Lawmakers are pursuing 340B reforms designed to improve transparency and prevent duplicate discounts, a change that could reduce hospital revenues and limit obligations by drug makers to provide markdowns.
The push for expanded data transparency may be an indicator of more comprehensive healthcare reforms to come, with potential consequences for a wide range of stakeholders, including insurers, pharmacies and drug manufacturers.
How should healthcare organizations respond?
- Continue to monitor the regulatory environment impacting healthcare and related organizations.
- Strengthen internal governance and data management to ensure continuous compliance with forthcoming regulations.
- Invest in data infrastructure and analytics capabilities to improve the accuracy, accessibility and usability of information across the organization.
- View transparency and reporting requirements as an opportunity to demonstrate value and build stakeholder trust, rather than solely as a compliance obligation.
Learn more about what’s happening in healthcare in our industry outlook.
