by Gerald G. Mannikarote, MBBS MBA
“We have all these data… What do we do with them?” This was a question posed by a client. It seems to be an oft repeated phrase by many healthcare companies (maybe not in the same words). What to do with the data? You have a bunch of numbers, but how do you make it meaningful?
This seems to be a challenge with Big Data. To answer this, you must understand your audience’s needs. This will help you make your data meaningful to those you share it with.
In one case, I was helping an organization work with the data they had collected. What I did first was understand the audience the data. Once that was understood, I isolated the patient population within the time frame we were working with. Once that was completed, we pulled the data points that was most important to the audience.
By separating the data we needed from those we didn’t, we were able to paint a picture of patient outcomes for our audience. We were able to show our customer how the services of the organization were able to improve the outcomes of their patient population within a specific time period. Not only were we able to show improved outcomes, but we were also able to demonstrate cost savings. This picture was meaningful to the customer.
How have you made your Big Data meaningful for your audience? Please leave your thoughts in the comments section. I would love to hear from you. You can also contact me at jerrydmann@dmanntraining.com
