Data and Analytics Strategy Yields a 4X Return

PARTNERSHIP HELPS DRIVE DATA AND ANALYTICS STRATEGY

CHNw desired to transform into an analytics-informed organization, but it needed to address data silos and data quality issues, and an analytics skill gap. Furthermore, it didn’t have a senior-level executive responsible for analytics, impeding the development of an effective data and analytics strategy across the entire enterprise.

CHNw needed an enterprise analytics partner that would provide the high-value data and analytics it needed to become an analytics-informed organization, and that had value realization as part of its core mission. It needed a partner committed to supporting the organization on its journey that could change and adapt to meet new needs and develop new solutions together.

TRANSFORMING INTO A DATA- AND ANALYTICS-INFORMED ORGANIZATION

CHNw selected the Health Catalyst® Data Operating System (DOS™) platform—the partnership began with a shared vision and values. The two organizations share common goals, including collaborating and building trusted relationships to support CHNw in achieving its mission and enhancing health and well-being in the communities it serves.

Engaging the team

CHNw embarked on a journey with Health Catalyst to transform into a data and analytics-informed organization, starting with engaging the board and gaining executive support. Now, the board, CEO, and executive committee are fully committed to creating a sense of urgency and developing an analytics strategy, including tying annual leadership incentives to the adoption of improvement and performance outcomes.

The organization also evaluated roles and responsibilities. It developed new roles, changed some roles, and added the skill sets required for success in each role. Information technology and digital transformation, including enterprise analytics leveraging the Health Catalyst platform and analytics applications, are now overseen by the chief transformation officer.

Benefitting from analytics-informed improvement

CHNw leads its analytics-informed improvement with its mission at the forefront, putting patients at the heart of improvement efforts: the organization humanizes data and analytics. When working on improving sepsis outcomes, the organization translated the impact of improved three-hour sepsis bundle compliance and reduced mortality into lives saved, bringing hundreds of people on stage at leadership development events to physically demonstrate the hundreds of lives saved by analytics-informed improvement efforts.

High-value data and analytics have enabled the organization to stop arguing about data and start talking about how the organization could use the data for improvement. One of the ways CHNw addresses the tight labor market and increased costs is by automating processes to address operational challenges and improve effectiveness. For example, CHNw leverages analytics to automate ambulatory practice management data, allowing the organization to scale improved operational efficiency.

CHNw uses the Health Catalyst Embedded Care Gaps™ Application to improve efficiencies and the care provided to ambulatory patients. The EHR-embedded patient-visit solution provides seamless and actionable care gap information to providers. The application is embedded directly in the EHR within their workflow, enabling providers to close care gaps in real time and deliver better, more cost-effective care.

Quantifying and using analytics

The organization is developing a culture where everyone in the organization uses data for improvement, investing in the development of both data literacy and process literacy. CHNw adopted a standardized seven-step framework for improvement, asking simple questions to guide caregivers through the improvement process. The organization provides expert support for activities, such as process mapping and data gathering, and creates improvement teams consisting of clinical process leaders, operational leaders, improvement specialists, and financial analysts to drive widespread improvements.

Data literacy is a vital focal point for the organization and is part of the analytics strategy. CHNw recognizes that closing the gap between delivering insights and acting upon them accelerates outcomes improvement. Instead of just asking about the data they need, the organization invests in helping teams identify the question they are trying to answer or the problem they’re trying to solve. Leaders participate in data literacy training to improve their ability to lead their teams with data. CHNw quantifies the value of its analytics investment, evaluating the impact of improvements on revenue performance, costs avoided, waste and adverse events avoided, patient lives affected, and the caregiver experience.

“Our partnership with Health Catalyst and our data and analytics journey has helped transform our organization, producing a 4X return while positively impacting the lives of thousands of patients and caregivers.”

Patrick McGill, MD, EVP, Chief Transformation Officer, Community Health Network

RESULTS

CHNw’s analytics-informed, multiyear improvements have resulted in a 4X return and have significantly reduced waste and improved patient outcomes. Examples of CHNw’s results include:

• $22M increase in revenue, including improvements in elective surgery, patient access, post-acute care, and durable medical equipment.
• $27M in cost savings from decreased clinical variation, improving sepsis care, length of stay, and readmissions.
• >1,000 adverse events and healthcare-acquired infections avoided.
• Hundreds of lives saved.
• Hundreds of thousands of care gaps closed.
• 25-30 percent increase in efficiency and productivity.

WHAT’S NEXT

CHNw will continue its analytics journey with Health Catalyst, continually advancing the use of high-value data and analytics to improve organizational performance, patient outcomes, and the caregiver experience.

ADDITIONAL READING

• Data-Informed Improvements Decrease Post-PCI Bleeding Events
• Data-Informed Patient Blood Management Saves $1.2M
• Closing Care Gaps at the Point-of-Care Yields 4X Value Realization
• Smartsourcing Clinical Data Abstraction Continues to Deliver Value While Reducing Costs
• Consistent Improvement Methodology Accelerates Healthcare Outcomes