幾年前，蓋辛格醫療系統公司的高管們發現，很多來自賓西法尼亞州的醫生直到深夜還在登錄該系統的電子病歷系統。之所以會出現這種情況，是因為醫生們要趕在夜里補白天沒時間做的文書工作。蓋森格的CEO大衛·費恩伯格深知，這種晝夜連軸轉的工作模式已經成了美國醫療界的通病。在仔細研究了相關數據后，他做了一個大膽的決定：將給予65歲及以上老人的預約時間延長一倍。

現在，蓋森格醫療系統的醫生每次接待一名老年患者需要40分鐘的時間，結果他們每天接待的病人少了很多。對于這個醫院系統來說，這個決定的代價似乎是很高昂的。但隨著時間的推移，事實證明，它并不是一筆賠錢的買賣。因為老年病人在經過更徹底的檢查后，他們出現在急診室里的概率降低了，也不太容易因為某個在診斷中沒談到的癥狀就申請住院治療。

如果說數據是當代的石油，服務賓州300萬患者的蓋森格醫療系統可以說就是醫療界的沙特阿拉伯了。蓋森格成立于1915年，它是一個綜合性的醫療系統，既直接為病人提供醫療，也提供醫保服務。更重要的是，它可以同時收集病人的醫療和醫保數據。1996年，蓋森格成為美國第一批采用全功能的電子病歷系統的醫療服務部門之一，此后它還不斷在這一領域進行投資。現在病人只需一部iPhone就能攜帶他們的病歷。

病人的臨床診斷和醫保報銷數據被整合在了一起，通過系統即可進行搜索。蓋森格的醫生可以像使用谷歌搜索那樣，實時簡便地搜索哪怕是醫生處方或醫療影像這種零散的數據。

在過去幾年里，蓋森格的系統又添加了不少新功能，比如可以合理安排手術室的使用（以往每臺手術只給安排45分鐘，哪怕明知醫生會超時），指示出成本異常的現象（比如哪些醫生的醫療耗材用得特別多），以及根據優先級對醫療影像審查進行排序等等。用人工智能程序訓練過的電腦甚至可以識別出哪些病人有潛在的中風風險。

CEO費恩伯格表示，大數據并未使蓋森格的醫生和護士的工作性質發生變化，它只是另一個能幫助他們更好地治療患者的工具。（財富中文網）

譯者：樸成奎?

A couple of years ago, executives at Geisinger Health discovered that, late at night, a number of the Pennsylvania health system’s doctors were still logged into the system’s electronic health records. The reason? Physicians were staying up doing all the administrative work they couldn’t get done during the day. Geisinger CEO David Feinberg knew that burnout had reached epidemic levels within America’s medical community, largely for this reason—and so, after reviewing the data, he made a bold decision: He doubled the length of appointment time given to patients 65 and older.

Geisinger physicians now spend 40 minutes with those patients, and as a result, see many fewer per day—an expensive decision for the system, it would seem. But in time, the data proved it was financially sound. Here’s why: Older patients, having undergone a more thorough exam, were far less likely to show up at the ER or require hospitalization for an issue that didn’t get discussed in the visit.

If data is the oil of modern day, Geisinger— which serves 3 million patients in rural Pennsylvania—may just be health care’s Saudi Arabia. Founded in 1915 as an integrated system—it both cares for patients and insures them (and, more important, gets data from both roles)— Geisinger became, in 1996, one of the first U.S. health systems to adopt a full-featured EHR. And they’ve invested in it ever since. Patients can even carry their records on an iPhone.

With such clinical and claims data merged together in a searchable form, Geisinger physicians can query data—even in unstructured forms like doctor’s notes and medical images— in real time, and as easily as a Google search.

In the past few years, its newfound capabilities have helped it rationalize the use of ORs (previously, every operation was slotted for 45 minutes, even if surgeons were known to run over), pinpoint costly variability in the system (such as surgeons who spend more on supplies), and prioritize the review of medical images. An A.I.-trained computer, for instance, identifies those of potential stroke victims.

For CEO Feinberg, all this big data isn’t a qualitative change for his physicians and nurses, he says. It’s just another tool to help them take better care of their patients.