Bridging the Gap Between Public Data and Quality Data — by Tim Slevin, CEO of Healthcare Data Solutions
Verifying data can sometimes feel like straddling two skyscrapers. One skyscraper represents all public data that has key identifiers our clients need to operate effectively like NPI, DEA and State License information. Let's call this the Public Data Tower. There are very few enforced data rules in this tower, as much of it is self-reported. There are duplicates, deceased doctors, home and foreign addresses, partial and invalid addresses, and all sorts of chaos.
The other skyscraper represents Physician data as we would like it to be: complete, accurate, relational and multi-dimensional. This is the Quality Data Tower. A provider's name is spelled the same way on each record. Each address is complete and providers with multiple addresses are connected by a common identifier. Medical Device, Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical companies like working with data that is orderly, consistent and accurate. But here's the tricky part: These same entities want every prescriber or provider to be found in each tower and to easily ambulate between the two as their business purpose demands. HDS clients do this across our data sets every day.
But these two towers are in constant motion and conflict for truth and accuracy. Public Data has every Doctor license and ID. Quality Data has names, addresses, phone numbers and more depth. Inherently, the Quality Data Tower can't show every Doctor in the NPI file and have data quality, because Quality Data must discriminate between actionable data and noise. If that doesn't occur, Quality Data isn't quality. It will have no guarantee, accuracy or value.
So in a climate of conflict we must set priorities. We set our priority on data quality. Having verified and validated Physician records or Physicians requires us to eliminate certain DEA licenses from our file. What is more important: to have every DEA license in a data set, or to have validated and verified Physicians? In most cases our hybrid approach has been the most successful.
The hybrid data model is a join between two data sets — the two towers — built on different principals. The Quality Data Tower solution is for the clients who need complete, accurate, relational and multi-dimensional data. In the Public Data Tower: Our State License Master Database represents all Physician and other Prescriber licenses direct from the medical boards, updated and aggregated daily. The hybrid of those two towers works to deliver the deep and rich data and marketing intelligence to help our clients with their licensure, compliance and marketing needs.
PrescriberPRO provides high data quality and integrity for all verified doctors at all locations they practice. So why would PrescriberPRO not have every DEA for all Doctors? There are many culprits we battle daily. For example:
- Home addresses used only for licenses
- Name changes
- 4-Name grouping changes: Amir Rice-Jones Lang and Amir Rice Jones-Lang
- Junior and Seniors
- Temporary residences & assignments
- Data entry errors
The number one challenge is monitoring the time lags between disparate data sources for the same Physician. It's the reason we have established protocols for resolving conflicts quickly and accurately. HDS uses primary source verification to resolve these conflicts and present the truth rapidly. Our clients know that if they present a Physician to research, we will have that doctor verified and corrected in 48 hours if necessary. It's all how we bridge the gap between clutter and quality.
