Written by: Center for Care Innovations

The evaluators for the Safety Net Analytics Program, Informing Change, published three case studies from the program, about data-driven culture, dashboards and a health center highlight for Contra Costa Health Services.

The Safety Net Analytics Program (SNAP) was created to help safety net organizations develop a data-driven culture and to strengthen the people, processes and technology behind data analytics. SNAP originally engaged 20 grantee teams to grow and develop individual awareness and skills about data management practices with the ultimate goal of enhancing their organizations’ overall data analytics capabilities. The 14- month program took a developmental approach to improving the many factors that impact data analytics capability, recognizing that each center may have a different starting point and may have different priorities for further development.

Data-Driven Culture:

No matter how new payment and care models evolve, the organizations that take the best care of patients in the most cost effective way will thrive. When clinical outcomes must be balanced with operational efficiency, a data-driven culture can mean the difference between a good healthcare organization and an outstanding one. The Safety Net Analytics Program (SNAP) supported participants in developing and spreading an awareness of the critical importance of data and analytics throughout their organizations. Learn about their journey.

Dashboards:

More data than ever before are available to health care providers. Yet, data are only helpful if staff is able to interpret and use them. Enter dashboards, and their increasing popularity as a primary method for visualizing data on business operations, clinical care and patient experience. By enabling data-sharing among staff—from frontline to administrative staff and across all departments and sites—in a consistent, visually accessible way, dashboards can guide safety net organizations’ staff and their practices to become more effective. Read the case study here.

How Analytics Transform a Health Home Model:

On any given day, staff at the Contra Costa Emergency Department (ED) can expect to see some familiar faces. These individuals, some of Contra Costa’s most vulnerable patients, come to the ED with numerous physical, mental and social service needs, the roots of which are complex and often driven by chronic illness. These patients return to the ED again and again, becoming high utilizers of a care setting that is not designed to address longterm, deeply complex health issues. What’s more, these repeated visits account for a disproportionately high share of health care costs. Learn about their journey here.