Question

St. Anthony Medical Center is Vila Health's main hospital. Located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, it is a 267-bed Level 2 trauma center. Vila Health's recent acquisition of two smaller systems of health (Delaware County Health Care System and Red River Health Care) has led the leadership teams from all three organizations to focus efforts and attention on understanding the health information systems used at all levels of their organizations.

One area of focus that leadership has identified is understanding how data – both internal and external – is used to make decisions. A working group has been created to analyze and assess this particular need.

Email #1

Data Driven Decision Making

From: Evelyn Unger, HIM Transition Team Project Manager

Hello again! I hope your Independence Medical Center site visit went well. I heard good things from your team members – they're very happy with the energy and interest you bring to the group.

This next project is a little different. I need to have you speak with people at St. Anthony Medical Center in Minneapolis to determine how data informs the decision making process there. From what I was told, leadership is not interested in the individual patient decision process, but rather the kinds of decisions that unit managers, department heads, and hospital administrators have to make. The focus should be on all types of available data, both internal and external.

The department heads and other leaders at the hospital are happy to talk to you, so just let me know who I need to follow up with to get some interviews scheduled. I've uploaded some documents to your network folder that I think will help you wrap your head around the task at hand.

Evelyn

Complete a Vila Health interactive simulation in which you will interview health care providers and other professionals at Vila Health's main hospital about their data needs. Then, write an executive summary, 5–6 pages in length, explaining the data needs of the organization and how they can be met.

1. Describe the types of internal data available within a health care system.

2. Describe the types of external data available within a health care system.

3. Propose strategies for accessing and analyzing available data.

4. Summarize the data needs within a health care system.

5. Propose strategies for meeting the data needs of a health care system.

6. Propose communication strategies for disseminating strategic information to end-users.

Answer 1

1. Describe the types of internal data available within a health care system.

Public and private organizations use three main types of data for promoting healthcare goods and services: health survey data, general use trend information, and administrative data created by the healthcare delivery system.

2. Describe the types of external data available within a health care system.

CMS and commercial payer data reflect the most common form of external data currently integrated into their EDW by healthcare systems. CMS offers a reliable and detailed collection of data for a variety of types of claims. The incorporation of these data into the EDW gives leaders an holistic view of the company.

3. Propose strategies for accessing and analyzing available data.

Health care includes a number of public and private data collection processes, including patient reports, administrative registry and accounting documents, and medical records used by various agencies, including hospitals, CHCs, doctors, and insurance programs. All of these entities collect data on race , ethnicity, and language to some extent, suggesting the potential of each to contribute patient or enrollment information.

4. Summarize the data needs within a health care system.

Health care data sets are an important source of information for understanding health disparities in patient populations and addressing health inequities. Most health care reports collect information about the services that are provided by individual patients during health care system experiences.

5. Propose strategies for meeting the data needs of a health care system.

Align treatment provision with culture. Offer the program and its users the infrastructure, information and accountability they need to enhance their outcomes. Establish high-security, high-reliability healthcare organizations

6. Propose communication strategies for disseminating strategic information to end-users.

Techniques of communication which are of interest for the field such as:

· Message customisation — Communication tailored for an person based on individual knowledge.

• Targeting the message to audience segments — Communication tailored for group-based subgroups or features such as age , gender or sex , race, cultural context, language, and other "psychographic" features such as a person's attitudes to specific subject matter.

• Use narratives — Communication presented in the form of tale education, testimonial education or entertainment.

• Message framing — Communication that transmits the same messages in alternate ways ( e.g., what is gained or lost through action or choosing).