From data overload to action: Turning analytics into a quality improvement tool

You’ve likely heard the sentiment before: You’re drowning in data.

It may seem counterintuitive, considering more analytics sounds like exactly what you need to buoy your strategy. But there’s a big difference between an onslaught and an orchestrated flow.

So, how do you turn a tidal wave into a tailwind?

That was precisely the topic of a recent Vizient webinar, where Ochsner Health leaders offered an answer: create dashboards that provide a clear, intuitive view of performance centered on metrics around mortality, readmissions, and your broader enterprise quality goals.

The result was a dashboarding solution that helped leaders move from asking, “Where can I find the right report?” to “What does this tell us about where we should focus next?”

Here are the top takeaways from the conversation.

Start with the problem, not the platform

Ochsner Health had access to powerful analytics through the Vizient Clinical Data Base and Quality and Accountability (Q&A) data. But those tools were primarily designed for analysts with specialized knowledge of reports, filters, and methodologies.

That meant many physician leaders, quality leaders, and executives had to rely on a small group of analysts to answer basic questions about performance. The information existed, but it wasn’t always easy to find or interpret. The dashboards—built by the Vizient data and analytics custom dashboarding team and drawing on Ochsner Health CDB and Q&A data—were designed to close that gap.

Instead of asking an analyst to pull a report, leaders could quickly see how a facility was performing, identify an area of opportunity, and begin exploring what might be driving it.

Ochsner Health Chief Quality Officer Dr. Richard Guthrie estimated that he had been about 10% self-sufficient in finding and using the data he needed. With the dashboards, he described himself as roughly 90% self-sufficient.

When leaders can access the right information themselves, he noted, they don’t have to wait for an analysis before starting the conversation.

Create one shared version of performance

Before the dashboards, leaders sometimes arrived at the same meeting with slightly variable numbers, which often came down to something as simple as a filter or exclusion applied differently from one report to the next. Instead of discussing how to improve, teams spent valuable time trying to determine which number was right.

The dashboard established a shared source of truth. Leaders across the system could look at the same measures, calculated the same way and presented in the same format.

That consistency was especially useful during monthly operating reviews. The Vizient team created a standardized view that highlighted each facility’s Vizient rankings alongside measures such as risk-adjusted mortality, readmissions, and Target Zero safety goals.

The result was a more focused conversation where leaders could spend less time debating the data and more time deciding what to do about it.

Make it easy to move from “what?” to “why?”

The dashboard starts with a high-level view of performance across facilities, regions, and cohorts. From there, users can drill down into individual facilities, service lines, subservice lines, and risk model groups.

For example, Ochsner Health leaders could see that readmissions were an area of opportunity for several facilities. By looking more closely at when those readmissions occurred, they found that performance was relatively strong in the first few days after discharge but weaker between 15 and 30 days.

That pattern pointed toward a different set of questions related to care transitions, follow-up, and social determinants of health.

The same approach helped the system examine mortality. Leaders could distinguish between expected and observed mortality, explore performance by service line, and look more closely at documentation and comorbidity capture.

In one instance, the dashboard helped confirm concerns about declining inpatient hospice and hospice discharges. What had been a suspicion (quickly) became a visible, measurable opportunity for action. Instead of waiting days or weeks for an analyst to assemble a series of reports, leaders were able to answer important questions during the meeting itself.

Show leaders what deserves attention

The dashboard was built for multiple audiences, from executives to operational leaders to analysts. The challenge was presenting information at different levels of detail without overwhelming users.

A senior leader might need a quick view of which facilities are performing well and which require attention, while a facility leader might need to see performance by service line. Meanwhile, a quality expert might need to examine the underlying patient population or risk factors.

Visual design helped connect those views through color coding, trend lines, cohort comparisons, and simple summary tiles that made areas of opportunity easier to spot. Sometimes, Guthrie said, “a wall of orange” was enough to prompt a productive conversation.

Customize the dashboard around strategic priorities

Although the dashboard was built around Vizient Q&A domains, it also incorporated measures specific to the system’s goals.

Custom tiles highlighted length of stay for chronic kidney disease and heart failure; facility-level views helped leaders examine performance across individual campuses; and a custom benchmark allowed a standalone women’s hospital to be compared with other organizations of a similar type.

Those details made the dashboard more relevant to the way Ochsner Health manages quality and performance. They also reinforced an important principle: A dashboard is most useful when it reflects the questions leaders are already asking and the goals they are accountable for.

The broader lesson is that better analytics don’t necessarily come from collecting more data but from creating a clearer path between information and action. When leaders can access a consistent view of performance, understand how they compare with peers, and quickly explore the factors behind an opportunity, data becomes easier to use—and improvement becomes easier to pursue.

Turn insight into action: Learn how Vizient Data and Analytics Services gives leaders access to expertise and hands-on analytic support to extend team capacity, strengthen decision-making, and move priority work forward.