No Data, Just Questions Please – for Healthcare.

The original post “No Data, Just Questions Please” comes from Avinash Kaushik and was written back in September. Its focus was for digital marketers but it is applicable to probably all businesses with a few modifications. I’m going to retain the majority of his article intact, but modify a part of it for healthcare.

From Avinash: “You puke data out every minute of every hour of every day of every month of every year. Because of your high-level of intelligence you understand that there is a difference between reporting and analysis, and you know that all this work is a complete waste of your incredible talent.

Still.

(Assuming you are an Analysis Ninja...) You report and you report and you report because it is all you are asked to do. At some point, you simply have to have the courage of your convictions and save your professional future - and your family's revenue stream - by answering questions rather than data requests.

Questions provide context, questions lead to relationships, questions expand your horizon, questions lead your business savvy, and in doing all that, and more, questions provide that magical missing ingredient: Purpose.

How do you distinguish between raw data requests (which lead to more data puking by you) and questions (which lead to the desirable combo of analysis and action)?”

Now my modifications for healthcare: Here are some questions healthcare system leaders should be asking.

Financial/Operational:

• If in fee-for-service, how can we improve revenue this year in the service lines with the best margins?  Which patients will remain loyal to our system and help us understand the factors that drive that loyalty? Are there certain services, providers, or experiences that make it more or less likely for patients to come back to us? What is the lifetime value of a patient based on their market segmentation?
•  If in value based payments, how can we reduce health care expenditures in the population we are responsible for this year?
• What are the services our patients will need and do we have the access to meet their demand?
• Model the impact on access and downstream referrals if a certain provider retires, if a competitor moves into the sector, or if we add providers to a sector.
• What services do people seek from our website and do we actually capture them as patients? Where are people falling off? 
•  What is the variability in costs between providers for similar services and why? What is the impact on cost per service delivered if this variability is removed?

Notice how this is very different than the typical questions we get such as “What are the number of __ (visits, admissions, procedures) we did last month?” Or “What is our payer mix? What’s our length of stay or clinic throughput?” These are reporting questions, or data puking as Avinash describes it. 

Clinical Quality:

• Which of our patients are likely to develop adverse medical issues while admitted?
• Which of our patients are likely to develop serious medical conditions (End Stage Renal Disease, Stroke, Heart Attack, or Diabetes) over the next year?
• Which of our patients are at high risk of death within the next year where we should make sure support and resources are in place for that eventuality?

These questions are much better than the typical “How many diabetics do we have with a HGA1C over 8%” typically asked to the analytics team.  Or worse, reporting on regulatory metrics (MIPS, HEDIS, etc....)

Patient Experience:

• What are the factors that drive our patient experience scores?
• Predict changes in patient experience scores based on variables we can control operationally or clinically.

If you are part of a typical healthcare analytics team, I bet right now you just “data puke” the usual results for Patient Experience. “How did Dr. X do last month?” or “Did we meet our HCAHPS goal”? Boring, dull, and of limited utility.

People:

• Predict retention in our hardest to recruit areas. Identify the areas where we can take action that will impact employee retention.
• What factors predict employee success and upward mobility?

I am sure that is not a complete list, but it is a good start for a healthcare analytics team.  Answering these questions delivers real value for the enterprise and transforms the business. Are these the questions your team gets? If not, can you engage with senior leadership to change the direction of your team? Or are you a “data puker”?

To quote Avinash “Say no to data requests. Be loud. Be proud. You're worth it.”

Mark Weisman, MD, MBA

Medical Director of Analytics and Informatics for Sentara Medical Group