How Data is Used in Life Sciences Business Workflows

Data is to business what oxygen is for the lungs. Data ensures that businesses operate at their highest efficiency while providing support for all aspects of a business. The digitalization of the globe means that enterprises are turning to master data management (MDM) software to maintain the congruency and accuracy of shared master data between business and IT departments. Procuring and managing data in life science workflows is the key to optimizing SOPs, meeting regulatory requirements, understanding patient journeys, and more.

Key Takeaways:

• Data in life science workflows can demolish data silos that inhibit business efficiency.
• Advancements in technology have created more avenues for data to be shared, thus optimizing the SOPs of medical professionals.
• The proper management of data is essential to improving regulatory confidence by creating a “golden standard.”

Improve the Patient Journey

For every organization in life sciences, the goal is to improve the patient journey. Businesses that want to achieve this goal should consider the impact data has on their workflows. Without data, improving patient journeys would prove difficult as organizations will not have the necessary information to build a treatment record.

Healthcare providers that have access to customer data can build specified treatment regimens that can improve their customer’s quality of life. Customer data can also prove beneficial to manufacturers and developers. These types of organizations use customer data to improve the quality of pharmaceutical drugs, find alternative treatment options and facilitate major medical breakthroughs.

As a result of the global pandemic, patients are more open than before to the notion of sharing their medical data. In doing so, researchers can analyze the data to locate outliers or consistencies that have the potential to provide insight into preventing the next pandemic or improving vaccine formulas required to combat current viruses.

Image source: PEW

What if a patient switches to a different healthcare provider? If this happens, then data accessibility becomes crucial to the workflow of the new healthcare provider.  Shared data builds a bridge for seamless integration. In other words, healthcare providers can’t mismanage the treatment of a patient because they will have access to their records from a previous provider. Additionally, healthcare providers can use data to provide efficient follow-up and future care to their newer patients.

Increase Interconnectivity with Technology

Advancements in technology provide new opportunities for patient convenience and provider workflow optimization. Mobile and network-based platforms allow healthcare providers to connect with their patients outside of the examination room. However, what purpose can any of this technology serve without data?

Mobile Medical Applications

App developers are leveraging mobile device features to create apps that can morph into medical devices or extensions thereof. Such apps allow clinicians to remotely collect, access patient data, and make data-backed decisions anywhere and at any time. Mobile medical applications offer patient reporting, medical reminders, health tracking, and communication with their providers. The market size of mHealth apps (mobile Health) is steadily increasing with medical apps already controlling a majority share over fitness apps.

Artificial Intelligence

AI technologies facilitate the research and development (R&D) process, diagnoses, and treat patients utilizing data analyzed from medical devices. Computer vision, a subset of AI technology, is being used to locate trends in medical images, records, and genetic data. Afterward, AI can make informed decisions based on these trends.

Internet of Medical Things (IoMT)

The sum of all hardware and software represents the IoMT. It  connects life sciences systems and data together through the Internet. This global network of interconnected health systems improves diagnosis speed and accuracy. Additionally, healthcare providers can monitor patient progress in real-time through apps while patients can learn more about their health via e-learning. MDM platforms facilitate the growth of the IoMT by ensuring data is consistent across an organization.

Image source: National Library of Medicine 

Data Refines Regulation

Data in life sciences workflows can improve regulatory confidence by creating a “gold standard.”  MDM platforms create this gold standard, which pull data from essential domains and organize that data with preexisting customer data. Properly procured and managed data will answer the five Ws — who, what, when, where, and why. Life sciences businesses that can accurately and consistently answer these questions take major strides towards the prevention of risks or compliance violations.

Regulation may mean that life sciences businesses must demonstrate full control over data management to ensure that misdiagnosis doesn’t happen or sensitive information isn’t miscommunicated. Life sciences businesses that manage data properly can avoid scrutiny from consumers and government regulatory bodies that seek to ensure the responsible management of personal data.

Research and Development Relies on Data

High-quality, clinical data is paramount to effective R&D. If the past two years have proven anything, it’s that vaccination development must be proactive, not reactive. Real-time data has allowed developers to accurately create solutions on the fly. 

Real-World Data and Real-World Evidence

This type of high-quality, clinical data based on patient health status and treatment, is mined from health information and patient medical records. It has been coined real-world data (RWD) and the conclusions drawn from RWD are called real-world evidence (RWE). The FDA has made it clear that both RWD and RWE are critical for the future of medical advancement and technology.

The global pandemic has set a precedent for the way the world utilizes RWD and RWE in the advancement of medicine and vaccinations. For example, the CDC has used RWE derived from RWD provided by other nations to decide on booster shots due to concerns over the diminishment of vaccine immunity over time.

Video: Real-World Data and Real-World Evidence 101

Bioconvergence

Bioconvergence combinines data and digital technology to create the latest techniques in engineering, biotech, and the uncovering of new drugs that will open the door to personalized medicine. One subcategory of this concept is bioelectronic, which uses precise neurostimulation based on patient data to treat and monitor patients with chronic diseases.

Manage Data in Your Life Science Workflow

Referencing our introductory metaphor, data like oxygen needs to be properly managed to provide value to the rest of your business. In other words, you need a set of lungs to move fresh air into your business while removing wasteful gases. In a nutshell, this is exactly what our MDM platform, Coperor was designed to do.

Coperor is a scalable, ecosystem-wide MDM that is equipped to overcome the challenges of the healthcare and life sciences industries. It creates a “gold standard” within organizations and their contracted partners across any ecosystem.

Contact us to learn about how our MDM can revolutionize your life sciences workflows.