Planes, trains and automobiles. They all have something in common. The pilot, engineer or driver all rely on a complex set of information (fuel usage, speed, engine temperature, oil pressure, geographic information systems, time, and so forth) delivered to them in a comprehensive but easy to read display.
For most "drivers" (who aren't pilots or engineers), the number of dials and gauges we need to read on the dashboard is limited. Even so, drivers are (supposedly at least) trained to pay attention to the entire set of information available to them.
Cars today have become very complex. It's often said that today's cars, with computers running most of the systems, have more computer power than Neil Armstrong's landing craft. Expect dashboards to remain simple for the user, but get increasingly sophisticated behind the dials.
Most businesses – and all human bodies – are more complex that a car. Healthcare businesses are among the most complex of businesses, with a myriad of regulatory and financial systems, health technologies, processes and procedures that change dramatically, and in many healthcare delivery organizations such as hospitals, personnel that range from brain surgeons to maintenance staff.
There is a reason that the United States healthcare industry is dramatically ramping up its spending on computers and complex networks to serve the needs of patients, providers and payers. Today's health information systems are among the most complex, sophisticated and expensive of any industry.
Business Intelligence
In a growing number of businesses, "drivers" (in this case, senior managers) are turning to a new set of activities known as "business intelligence."
Business intelligence in the simplest sense is seeing and accurately evaluating the health and status of an organization in real time. In terms of tools, business intelligence applies to applications and technologies used to gather, provide access to, and analyze data and information about the organization's operations.
Executives who can stay on top of their operations without getting deluged with data are the ones who can best spot new opportunities, make good budgeting decisions, and correct small problems before they turn into big ones. To do this, they keep a close eye on their dashboard.
The word "dashboard" is used in a business intelligence environment as a metaphor for the instrument panel in a cockpit or automobile. Here the dashboard is displayed on a computer screen, providing a snapshot of company operations, but with the underlying complexity reduced to graphical displays that are easy to comprehend. These can be as simple as a tool to measure the ROI of a dozen online ad campaigns to something that reports order and supply chain information for a global conglomerate.
Business intelligence dashboards offer real promise to healthcare executives. It is clear that the data flow is growing faster than any other part of the industry. Keeping a firm hand on the implications of that data, however, is approaching the level of urgency. Dashboards and the related technologies of business intelligence should be at the top of the chart for every healthcare administrator. Just as problems in the human body can become escalated if symptoms are ignored, an organization's health can quickly get off track if there's no finger on the pulse.
BodyBoard?
Say, now that dashboards can radically simplify the reporting and understanding of the huge and ever increasing flow of data in the business of healthcare, perhaps its time to get back to our day job: helping people stay healthy.
In bodies, biological "computers" run the world's most sophisticated information networks. Physicians are trained to read the data "output" via individual Q&A diagnosis and lab reports. Wouldn't it be simpler to have patients enter a diagnostic machine that features a dashboard with all the vitals in a single place?
Or, what about a chip in the arm with a wireless feed to the physicians' computer screen with dashboard icons on the desktop? Stay tuned to the latest developments – on your own dashboard.
May 2007
