Business Intelligence in the Context of Integrated Care Systems (ICS): Experiences from the ICS “Gesundes Kinzigtal” in Germany

Abstract

Patients generate various data with every contact to the health care system. In integrated care systems (ICS) these fragmented patient data sets of the various health care players can be connected. Business intelligence (BI) technologies are seen as valuable tools to gain insights and value from these huge volumes of data. However so far there are just sparse experiences about BI used in the integrated care (IC) context. Therefore the aim of this article is to describe how a BI solution can be implemented practically in an ICS and what challenges have to be met. By the example of a BI best practice model—the ICS Gesundes Kinzigtal—it will be shown that data from various data sources can be linked in a Data Warehouse, prepared, enriched and used for management support via a BI front-end: starting with the project preparation and development via the ongoing project management up to a final evaluation. Benefits for patients, care providers, the ICS management company and health insurers will be characterised as well as the most crucial lessons learned specified.