Taking So What Data to Now What Data

In my years in data management, I was asked to download a lot of reports. And, I mean a lot. The reports ranged in the number of falls, to audits of restraints, to patients with heat-related illness, and to outcomes data on performance measures. Each time I was asked to run a report or analyze the data, of course, the end user had a reason...or theoretically had a reason for the data. They wanted to see the number of falls that had occurred, how many patients were put in restraints and for how long, how many patients had a heat-related illness, and what providers' outcomes data looked like on their performance measures. All the reports meant something and had some kind of explanation. In fact, we are taught to interpret the health care data and make it mean something. However, I will never forget the day that I was asked to pull multiple reports for a department. I had the reports, I had the explanations and analyses, and the Department Chair said to me, "So what?" That is when it occurred to me that in health care we are so proud of our big data, of our files and reports, of the measures we track, but so what? What is all that data telling us and what do we really want to do with it? We need to move from compiling So What data to creating Now What data.

You may be asking yourself, what is the difference between So What and Now What data? Aren't they the same thing? Sure, the tools for mining the data may be similar, the codes and analyses may be the same, the connections between relational databases may be comparable. However, So What data tells us only the facts. One thousand patients were assessed for falls last month, and five percent of patients fell. Ten patients were put in restraints, and all reasons met clinical standards. Fifty-seven patients in July were admitted for heat related illnesses. Dr. Harrison's outcomes data shows she has good mortality rates on surgery, but she also has a slightly higher readmission rate. So What data tells us what we need to know to get to the facts, to produce our graphs and figures, to report to executive leadership and the board, and to get on with our days. So What data for the most part focuses on the status quo and how we are going to keep up with all the regulations and keep the health care organization running.

Now What data takes So What data further. Now What data tells us the same things, but it enables us to use that data to our organization's and industry's advantage. Now What data suggests an action be taken as a result of the data. Now What data says that 1000 patients were assessed for falls, and 5% percent of patients fell. Now What happens would be an analysis by patient to determine what caused the falls, where the falls occurred, and how falls could be prevented.  Now What data examines the facility that put patients in restraints but met regulations 100% of the time and demonstrates a best practice for other facilities to follow. Now What data drills down to the causes of the 57 patients admitted for heat related illnesses and determines indirect and direct contributing factors to those illnesses. The end data creates prevention programs, reviews opportunity costs to the organization and the community, and develops cooling centers in the locations where patients are most likely to experience heat related illnesses. Now What data examines Dr. Harrison's mortality scores and assesses them on a case by case basis, as well as a whole, and examines any underlying causes of increased readmission rates. It determines the point where readmission becomes more likely. So What data is still and stagnant, while Now What data is active and moving.

In order to take So What data to Now What data, we need to stop collecting data for data's sake. Data needs to have a purpose, and it needs to be an ends to a mean....not a means to an end. As an industry, we can have all the transparency there is and create all kinds of reports and make nice graphs.  In the end, it has to mean something. It has to show change. It has to show the correlation between two different points of information, such as the number of admissions versus room turnover time by the day of the week and hour of the day. Now What data shows how we can improve to make health care better for patients and providers. Now What data has a story. The stories are the facts and the figures, but the stories also involve the patients, the organization, the providers, and the community. Now What data shows how they all worked together as a result of this information. When So What data is transformed to Now What data, transparency will mean something when charts and graphs are posted on websites showing "Best At".  Patients and visitors will be able to look at the data and understand what it means and why they should choose that organization or that provider.