Benchmarking Healthcare Performance With Data Visualization
“Reporting time for provider performance assessment decreased significantly, and the organization could start reporting on certain metrics with regularity for the very first time.”
Situation
In a world of value-based care where providers are rewarded and accountable for their quality of care, it is essential that providers have access to real-time performance data that affects their decision making and daily performance. Combining the necessary data sources can be a challenge and requires new reporting processes, data storage solutions, and, of course, effective data visualization tools that allow for easy access and interactivity with the data.
Recently a large healthcare organization came to CSG to build an interactive “provider scorecard” that combined reports from multiple departments and in multiple formats (excel spreadsheets, pdfs, and data from the organization’s healthcare software, etc.) into a single information source. They needed a new reporting system that had standardized metrics and that could be easily updated and viewed by physicians. The new system would allow physicians to understand how their performance stacks up against peers and would help managers regularly compare regional and individual provider performance.
Solution
With the introduction of a data visualization tool, Tableau, CSG equipped managers to view their data in two data visualization dashboards- a dashboard with a provider-centric view and one with a regional view. By separating the data into two possible views, the dashboards gave physicians access to their specific performance information and also gave managers access to additional regional performance data, focusing on only the data that would be actionable for each.
As a result of their new data visualization tool, reporting time for provider performance assessment decreased significantly. These reports were possible for the organization previously, but the new system made the data more accessible, set up consistent standards for data collection, and allowed for performance assessment at any time by physicians and managers.
Moving from printed reports to iPad and laptop access equipped managers to dive even deeper into the data during performance assessment meetings. Instead of waiting for the creation of a new report, managers and physicians can answer specific performance questions and explore possibilities for improvement on the spot, reducing the time between insight and action.
Physicians also gained the ability to view the data at any time they need and as a result could self-adjust, rather than waiting on feedback from a manager or from a scheduled performance report. With the possibility for even minute adjustments to be made at any time by physicians and managers, the organization removed roadblocks to continuous provider improvement.
Lastly, because of the new system and metrics, the organization could start reporting on certain metrics with regularity for the very first time. An organized, central source for data collection with clear constraints and entry requirements allowed for clearer processes, improving the likelihood for consistency in data entry moving forward.
With the introduction of data visualization, providers and managers could more effectively use the vast amount of performance data already being collected, making adjustments as soon as they identified an area of improvement.
Data visualization allows for the exploration of complex data sets, but also ensures that the key takeaways from that data can be presented succinctly in order to insight action.
