Data Analysis – Tableau You are the chief data analyst for a hospital (look at

Data Analysis – Tableau
You are the chief data analyst for a hospital (look at the Excel spreadsheet mainreadmissionsdata and choose one hospital that has data for all 6 readmissions measure) and are tasked to analyze readmissions data provided by CMS, so the hospital management and board can quickly look at how the hospital is performing in comparison with other hospitals in the region and the country and understand what they could do to improve their excess readmissions ratios and avoid penalties. The visuals should be simple enough to be understood by providers and managers without extensive data training.
The point of this exercise is not only to learn how to think like a data analyst and use BI tools, but to also learn how to communicate business-relevant implications of data analyses. By the end of this assignment, you will know how to structure your data analysis projects to ensure the fruits of your hard labor yield results for your stakeholders. You will also learn how to streamline your analyses and highlight their implications efficiently using visualizations in Tableau, the most popular visualization program in the business world.
Don’t forget that this is not ONLY about crunching the numbers; there is a reason why these are called business analytics/intelligence tools. Healthcare is a business and in fact many healthcare organizations will have to rediscover their business side if they want to survive in this environment.
What you will have to do–the big picture:
craft the right questions to ensure your analysis project succeeds;
leverage questions to design logical and structured analysis plans;
create the most important graphs used in business analysis and transform data in Tableau;
design business dashboards with Tableau;
tell stories with data;
(Grading)
Hospital Selection–5%
Get to know your data worksheet (Data dictionary)–25%
PowerPoint with final dashboards and charts–65%
Submit the right version of the Tableau file I can actually open–5%
By now you have explored the data in detail and have selected the best visuals to support your arguments for how to improve your hospital’s readmissions status.
1) Finalize your Tableau charts:
Include a total of 9 slides with visuals (1 visual=1 chart or 1 dashboard)
Try to include at least one chart of each type (one map, one scatterplot, one bar chart) and one dashboard
Make sure each chart has a clear and meaningful title (e.g., not “Readmissions bar chart”)
Remove the legend if it does not add additional information not on the labeled axes
Increase font for data labels and text to at least 10 or 11 to make sure they are readable (and use black font, default is gray)
Export the charts from Tableau to PPT in bulk (use File/Export to PPT). Do NOT use screenshots, they will make your visuals blurry
Be consistent in naming and colors chosen to represent the same concepts
No pie or bubble charts ?
2) Put together your PPT presentation (no audio necessary unless you want to explain further). Remember that the goal is to recommend a course of action for your hospital leadership based on the data you have available. Recommended slides for your PPT are (you can add a few more if it helps you make your point):
title page (1 slide)
background of the readmissions program–why is it important for hospitals and patients (1 slide); explain why we care about under 1 and over 1 for ERRs
background of your chosen hospital (1 slide)
analysis goals(1 slide)
9 slides with your chosen visuals as indicated above (Use the export function. Make sure charts are readable and fit on the slides, and are formatted appropriately.)
a brief description of each visual on that respective slide that explains the viewer what the main message is; these brief explanations are very important, as they guide your audience through and are the bread crumbs you leave behind on the way to your recommendation :). Make sure you do not repeat the info from the title and describe how we created the chart twice. Example: a good dashboard title would be Excess readmission ratios for X hospital and state and national averages. The blurb that provides insights on the side should not repeat that same info, but read something like: Heart failure readmissions are higher in our hospital compared to regional and national averages.
a findings slide that summarizes what you found in those 9 visuals–what do those charts tell us about readmissions and how do those findings relate to the deficiencies you observed in your chosen hospital?
a recommendations slide—what do you think the hospital should do in short/long term to address readmissions (there is a lot of research on causes and approaches to reduce readmissions, and I added examples of some of that in the Readmissions Background folder, but you don’t have to go that far if you don’t want to; instead, just look at the basics of how to improve readmissions such as transitional care, 7-day follow ups, chronic disease management–see the articles below)