Data Visualization Dashboards: Three Ways to Maximize Data

Data Visualization Dashboards:
Three Ways to Maximize Data

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Data Visualization Dashboards
Data is everywhere in healthcare, but it often
falls short of adding value for health systems.
While most healthcare organizations have
access to more data than ever—and claim to
be data driven or data informed—80 percent
of healthcare leaders say their use of data
analytics to drive decision making and
strategic planning is “negligible.”

Why has the promise of investment in
data systems not materialized for some
healthcare leaders, particularly as data
remains a top asset?
While health systems constantly face new
challenges, and never more so than in
2020 with the COVID-19 pandemic, one
thing remains constant—health systems
need access to comprehensive data
in their enterprise data warehouses
(EDWs) to drive decisions that ensure
organizational success.

One explanation for health data’s unrealized
potential may be the challenge of converting
data into actionable information.
Aggregating and organizing data is only
part of the process.
Surfacing data as actionable information
in the best visualizations is as vital as
deriving the data itself.
This process adds context through the
identification of trends and relative
comparisons, most effectively done through
data visualization tools like dashboards.

Data Visualization Dashboards Drive
Data-Informed Change
Dashboards play a critical role in driving data-
informed decisions.
As information management tools, dashboards
quickly convey large sums of information and
highlight important figures for decision makers.
For example, the Health Catalyst Leading
Wisely® tool surfaces consolidated data and
allows for data sharing via easy-to-understand
dashboards (Figure 1).

Figure 1: The Leading Wisely data visualization dashboard.
Click image for online view

Without dashboards, decision makers or
analysts must manually collect, correct,
transform, and analyze data regularly to
reveal actionable insights.
While data scientists, analysts, and advanced
data users understand this analysis process
and the associated tools, the process is not
as clear for other leaders in the organization.
The lack of accessibility to a standard analytic
process is a roadblock to a healthcare
organization’s data assets reaching their
full potential.

Spreadsheets and documents show
analysts an organization’s data, but
their primary purpose isn’t visualization.
Visualization dashboards enable
aggregated data analysis for leaders
at every level without requiring the
technical analysis skills that complex
spreadsheets typically demand.
These dashboards feature drill-down
capabilities that allow users to dive
into the nuances of the data.

For example, in addition to reviewing
high-level discharge data, users can
examine key indicators to compare
discharges at each location and then
drill further into one of the locations to
see the discharges at the provider or
department level.
Without a dashboard, these drill-down
reporting capabilities can be time-
consuming and costly and include
licensing fees, significant development
requirements, and independent data
governance.

Data visualization dashboards can also
act as tools to keep disparate
departments aligned with a health
system’s greater goals.
Because dashboards are based on the
curated and standardized data—
already defined and agreed on by the
organization’s leadership—they can
provide users with an interactive view
of key performance indicators (KPIs)
without incurring additional data
governance oversight.

Dashboards can vary in their focus,
but all are intended to highlight areas
of interest (e.g., if a department is on
track to reach its KPIs) through
relevant visualizations.

Three Key Benefits of Data Visualization Dashboards
Dashboard reporting tools give leaders at
every level constant visibility across their
organization, empowering systemwide data-
driven decisions.
When health systems leverage the
information in their EDW through data
visualization dashboards, they maximize
their data’s value in three keyways:
1. Time to Value
2. Data Democratization
3. Digestible Data

#1: Time to Value
Healthcare leaders have to make decisions
quickly; waiting days or weeks for a specific
data analysis allows new issues to arise,
meaning the initial data analysis is outdated
or irrelevant by the time it’s completed.
Dashboards seamlessly and automatically
convey large sums of information in a short
amount of time so leaders can make quick,
accurate decisions.

#1: Time to Value
Delayed decision making can lead to
wasted resources, confusion across the
hospital, and stalled care delivery to
patients in need of medical attention.
Analysts can tailor dashboards for
specific groups so that the right data
visualization dashboards release the
correct data (sometimes previously
hidden in the EDW) and surface
actionable insights specific to a
group’s need.

#1: Time to Value
Visualization dashboards offer immediate
access to varied, comprehensive data sets
so decision makers can rely on up-to-date
data without manual effort.
Dashboards also act as a timesaving
method to view data for leaders who do not
have the time (and often lack the technical
expertise) to dive deep into data analytics.

#2: Data Democratization
From a central source of truth, the EDW,
dashboards also achieve data
democratization—the ability for leaders
at every level to access accurate data to
drive informed decisions.
This availability of information is the
foundation of self-service analytics, which
means leaders at all levels can access
and leverage analytics in decision making
without relying on a data analyst.

A common data challenge for health systems
is how to widely disseminate information to
leaders while maintaining data integrity.
Typically, when data is available throughout
an organization, leaders worry about the
integrity of the data and whether team
members are using the latest numbers.
With the EDW as the central source of truth,
leaders can rest assured that everyone is
using the latest data to drive decisions.

As part of data democratization, self-service
dashboards replace manually generated,
recurring reports, allowing dedicated analyst
resources to focus on higher-value analysis
and data governance.
Information is always available and up to date
and requires minimal maintenance, making
dashboards invaluable tools for maintaining
improvements over time.

#3: Digestible Data
Dashboards simplify complex data and
highlight variations, making the data easy to
consume and digest for decision makers at
every level.
The use of appropriate visualizations and
comparisons over time or among departments
or locations calls attention to outliers without
the need for repetitive, cumbersome analysis.
Most dashboarding systems allow users to set
and track goals, and more advanced systems
will integrate statistical functions like process
control and forecasting.

#3: Digestible Data
These functions allow users to see
the expected impact of an intervention
based on the health system’s history.
With simple visual options to match
the data sets—such as run charts, bar
graphs, or scatter plots—decision
makers are empowered to view,
monitor, share, and report
performance information over time,
regardless of their technical skill level.

#3: Digestible Data
Additionally, data visualization dashboards
make data more digestible by allowing
automatic notifications so that leaders can
rely on alerts, rather than checking
granular data regularly.

#3: Digestible Data
For example, a user can configure an
automatic notification to interested
parties when data violate rules or
breach thresholds.
These notifications also improve the
likelihood that leaders will take
appropriate action at the earliest
opportunity.

Data Visualization Dashboards Maximize Data Value
Dashboards are often an untapped
resource for many health systems
that fail to maximize their data and
analytic capabilities.
Data visualization dashboards allow
organizations to replace manual
reports with interactive information
systems, increasing their digitization
and freeing their valuable analytic
resources to perform strategic
analysis.

Based on commonly defined measures,
dashboards allow leaders to quickly and
easily explore, and interact with, common
data to discover and track issues.

Along the data journey, some leaders
may underestimate the vital role
dashboards play in driving data-based
decisions that allow health systems to
thrive in an unpredictable market.
Effective dashboards extend the data
beyond a spreadsheet and help leaders
gain confidence, freeing them from
second guessing their decisions.

When leaders at every level feel confident
their decisions are based on accurate,
common measures from one source of truth,
they can get back to what matters—ensuring
organizational success so they can continue
improving outcomes and helping patients
attain optimum health.

For more information:
“This book is a fantastic piece of work”
– Robert Lindeman MD, FAAP, Chief Physician Quality Officer

More about this topic
Link to original article for a more in-depth discussion.
Data Visualization Dashboards: Three Ways to Maximize Data
Healthcare Trends During COVID-19: Top Five Areas to Watch
Holly Rimmasch, Chief Clinical Officer; Ed Corbett, MD, Medical Officer
Build Versus Buy a Healthcare Enterprise Data Warehouse: How IT Leaders Choose the Best Option
for Their Organizations Tarah Neujahr Bryan, Senior VP, Marketing
Three Must-Haves for a Successful Healthcare Data Strategy
David Grauer, MBA, MHSA, Senior VP Professional Services
Achieve Data-Informed Healthcare in Eight Steps
Sam McCutcheon, Analytics Enginee
The Biggest Barriers to Healthcare Interoperability
Dan Soule, VP Product Management

Keith Roberts joined Health Catalyst in May of 2015 as the Director of Implementations.
Keith has over 20 years of broad experience in healthcare, IT, and analytics. He began
his career as a senior business analyst for Magellan Behavioral Health, Human Affairs
International, and First Health, where he created utilization and cost reports used by
customers to optimize their benefit offerings. This interest in analytics led Keith to
Pinnacle Health, where he developed qualitative metrics and reporting for optimizing
reimbursements for capitated Medicare populations. Most recently, Keith spent 8 years
As a Program Manager with GE Healthcare, where duties included Agile software development, Lean
Six Sigma and process analysis, implementations, and project management. Much of this time was
spent working on a GE / Intermountain Healthcare partnership to deliver clinical best practice software.
Keith holds certifications in project management (PMP), Privacy (CIPP/US), Lean Six Sigma (Black
Belt), Scrum Master (CSM), and software quality (CSQE). Keith also holds an MBA from the University
of Utah and a BS Finance from the University of Wyoming.
Other Clinical Quality Improvement Resources
Click to read additional information at www.healthcatalyst.com
Keith Roberts

Other Clinical Quality Improvement Resources
Click to read additional information at www.healthcatalyst.com
Health Catalyst is a mission-driven data warehousing, analytics and outcomes-improvement
company that helps healthcare organizations of all sizes improve clinical, financial, and operational
outcomes needed to improve population health and accountable care. Our proven enterprise data
warehouse (EDW) and analytics platform helps improve quality, add efficiency and lower costs in
support of more than 65 million patients for organizations ranging from the largest US health system
to forward-thinking physician practices.
Health Catalyst was recently named as the leader in the enterprise healthcare BI market in
improvement by KLAS, and has received numerous best-place-to work awards including Modern
Healthcare in 2013, 2014, and 2015, as well as other recognitions such as “Best Place to work for
Millenials, and a “Best Perks for Women.”

Data Visualization Dashboards: Three Ways to Maximize Data

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