幾年前，蓋辛格醫(yī)療系統(tǒng)公司的高管們發(fā)現(xiàn)，很多來自賓西法尼亞州的醫(yī)生直到深夜還在登錄該系統(tǒng)的電子病歷系統(tǒng)。之所以會出現(xiàn)這種情況，是因為醫(yī)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(wèi)·費恩伯格深知，這種晝夜連軸轉(zhuǎn)的工作模式已經(jīng)成了美國醫(yī)療界的通病。在仔細(xì)研究了相關(guān)數(shù)據(jù)后，他做了一個大膽的決定：將給予65歲及以上老人的預(yù)約時間延長一倍。

現(xiàn)在，蓋森格醫(yī)療系統(tǒng)的醫(yī)生每次接待一名老年患者需要40分鐘的時間，結(jié)果他們每天接待的病人少了很多。對于這個醫(yī)院系統(tǒng)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(jīng)過更徹底的檢查后，他們出現(xiàn)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(shù)據(jù)是當(dāng)代的石油，服務(wù)賓州300萬患者的蓋森格醫(yī)療系統(tǒng)可以說就是醫(yī)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(yī)療系統(tǒng)，既直接為病人提供醫(yī)療，也提供醫(yī)保服務(wù)。更重要的是，它可以同時收集病人的醫(yī)療和醫(yī)保數(shù)據(jù)。1996年，蓋森格成為美國第一批采用全功能的電子病歷系統(tǒng)的醫(yī)療服務(wù)部門之一，此后它還不斷在這一領(lǐng)域進(jìn)行投資。現(xiàn)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(yī)保報銷數(shù)據(jù)被整合在了一起，通過系統(tǒng)即可進(jìn)行搜索。蓋森格的醫(yī)生可以像使用谷歌搜索那樣，實時簡便地搜索哪怕是醫(yī)生處方或醫(yī)療影像這種零散的數(shù)據(jù)。

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

CEO費恩伯格表示，大數(shù)據(jù)并未使蓋森格的醫(yī)生和護(hù)士的工作性質(zhì)發(fā)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(wǎng)）

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.