In order to demonstrate or sell it software, Tableau, demonstrated the company's first roll out integration with Kaiser Permanente in late 2016.[*] Of course, the presentation was filled with praise regarding the software's performance.
What is interesting is that the analytics program is used in a quality improvement (QI) measure by Kaiser Permanente. This QI measurement is strikingly similar to my Queens Medical Professional Association CARE plan as discussed in my class, HCA 600 – Healthcare Administration. For my grant proposal I had 3 project managers assigned to 30 private practices with the goal of assessing 10 core measurements for long run healthcare improvement. In Kaiser Permanente’s case, they have employed care managers in a similar manner on a much larger scale. To increase the efficiency of data analysis, the consortium decided to use Tableau software to keep track of one specific measure, diabetes management.
Kaiser Permanente’s use of Tableau software is a perfect solution for potential problems arising from the care manager attachment to private practices. My CARE project had a huge flaw of relying heavily on project managers to be able to think on the fly, while also demanding accurate reports of practice outcomes. With 10 practices per project manager there was bound to be severe time burdens and inaccurate reports. Kaiser Permanente’s use of analytic software saves significant time spent writing reports and allows their care managers to focus on engaging patients and connecting with private practices. More importantly, the practices can track in real time how changes implemented are improving patient outcomes. The interconnected network is a result of Kaiser Permanente’s integration of hospital, health plans, and medical groups under one banner.
The data from their electronic health record system, Epic, is inputed onto a spreadsheet for Tableau, which produces an analysis that can be used for consulting. This is a perfect example of the rise of big data. Big data serves the needs of organizations of all shapes and sizes by presenting a clear picture of the situation expediently.
Three surefire steps that anyone, a company, organization, team, or association must take to solve any problem:
1. What is the problem?
2. Decide how to fix the problem.
3. Act to fix the problem.
Big data aids during both step 1 and step 2. The issue can be pinpointed and the solution can be based off a more narrow selection of options. Prior to that the organization were compiling reports to get the overall picture. With more and more statistics provided at real time to managers, organizations will be able to redistribute labor and effort into sectors that need it. However, organizations might also use the reports to remove “excess labor,” and single out low performance staff.
Kaiser Permanente had its own share of problems implementing the software. The first couple of months led to a flurry of ad hoc reports and training. Without a standardize format for the reports the initial assessments had to undergo the same treatment pre-Tableau. However, after about a year the care managers and management overall started to get the hang of the software.
Overall Kaiser Permanente’s experience with Tableau taught 3 important lessons:
1. Understanding workflow and defining business requirements is key
2. Get the data right the first time
3. Talk to everyone at every level à Then, using data, you can say customer is not always right.
With Kaiser Permanente’s adaption of analytic software for healthcare outcomes, I expect a similar string of events to occur for other healthcare management sectors.
[*] Presenter was Michael Shen, Senior Data Consultant of Kaiser Permanente in Orange County.
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