Chapter 12 - Opening Case - North York General Hospital Uses IBM Analytics Solutions Flashcards
What happened to North York General Hospital in 2017?
They joined an joint initiative to improve patient care as well as hospital operational efficiency using IBM data analytics software solutions.
What is one problem with data that hospitals face that were solved by the use of IBM technology?
The storage of data in disparate formats has been fixed through IBM analytics.
IBM has helped by:
1. Allowing NYGH to consolidate data from 50 collection points, dispersed across three hospital sites, into a standardized format in a central data warehouse.
2. Then advanced analytics is used to produce simple, easy to read reports and charts on the hospitals clinical, administrative, and financial performance displayed to decision makers on web based dashboards.
What were the different ways that IBM was implemented to help the Healthcare system in North York General Hospital?
- The storage of data of differing formats into one centralized warehouse.
- View all the data of a single patient
- Measure and report QBP’s
- Diagnostic and predictive purposes.
What was the issue with the data for a single patient? What was the result?
The data was collected on the corporate level as it was hard to collect and analyze the Dara on a unit level. However IBM allowed them to view the data for a single client at the unit level allowing them to see operational performance indicators, cost, quality, safety. Decision makers are empowered to make changes in practices, services, programs, to improve the services across the health care system.
How was IBM used to solve the issue with the measurement of Quality Based Procedures?
NYGH receives the majority of its funding from the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term Care, requiring that they provide quality service that meets or exceeds the standards. QBP relates to the number and types of patients that the customer treats. The IBM has been useful in measuring and reporting the cost per patient, length of stay, etc. IBM created a dashboard to replace the 100 individual reports on different QBP’s, providing insights into all QBP’s but also drilling down to the patient level.
How was IBM used for diagnostic and predictive purposes?
- Discovered that imaging was the main reason for the return visits to the emergency department, which impacted patient flow. The hospital then ensured that imaging resources were available at various times during a patients first visit to eliminate return visits and improve patient wait times.
- Runs a predictive model to give the emergency department an estimation of the number of patients it should be expecting in different time frames. This helps to ensure the resources are planned, create awareness and preparedness, and the emergency department has adequate resources.
What was the result of these initiatives by the company?
By tackling the bottle necks, it improved efficiency and key performance indicators. Leading to the government providing an additional $3 million in funding per year.
How did the company use IBM during the COVID-19 pandemic?
Launched its COVID-19 portal in less than 2 weeks, which had a real time dashboard that tracked COVID-19 cases, admissions in acute care, and the number of patients that were ventilated and the number of tests. They could also measure the pandemics impacts on its services like the capacity of the care units, emergency departments, and the use of PPE resources.
How many employees had access to the dashboard? What was the benefit?
5000 staff members had access to the dash board to have up to date metrics to stay informed.
How did the IBM assist in backlogs of surgeries?
It helped them to avoid surgery backlogs as it planned for a need of increased capacity in the pandemic.
What was the overall result?
Created a smarter, more agile, and connected health care system capable of delivering better patient care efficiently with fewer mistakes.
