Customizing Epic Reporting Using Dashboards

When customizing Epic reporting for your healthcare facility, or when resolving a backlog of reports, one of the most vital customizations is the creation of role-specific dashboards. These “analytics templates” can allow users to see what matters most and take action without dependence on IT to create individual, custom reports.

Epic dashboards are used to aggregate data from multiple sources and present it in a summarized format. Some are designed to deliver data to clinical users and managers, while others are suitable for financial or quality managers, or C-suite executives.  A well-designed dashboard provides the user with key analytics and replaces the need to review several, detailed reports.

Epic’s dashboards can be designed to specifically and efficiently serve the needs of your busy administrators. Below, we focus on the executive dashboard and highlight 3 core considerations:  

1. Aggregate data from the source

Your executive dashboard should leverage a “bottom-up” approach for aggregating the relevant healthcare data from its source. This ensures that the executive version of the summarized metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs) match the detailed data that the responsible teams supply. A mismatch in  how the data is sourced can lead to differing presentations of the data, which can cause misunderstandings in goal achievement.

2. Assign ownership for KPIs and metric data

It is important to ensure that appropriate team members have ownership of, and are held accountable for, the KPI and metric data that comprises the executive dashboard. This not only allows executives to efficiently follow-up with specific teams or individuals to make changes to improve reporting, but also to work through the teams to delve into more detailed data when necessary.

3. Ensure that the dashboard is functional over time

Executive dashboards can become cumbersome over time if additional metrics are continually added. As executives become aware of new KPIs or metrics to monitor, they may request to have them added to their dashboard. This means a simple dashboard could evolve into a cluttered presentation of data. To ensure that the dashboard is functional over time, it is necessary to ensure that the dashboard adheres to a simple, yet structured framework for consolidating data. Otherwise, the process of maintaining it can become unsustainably complex, and scaling the dashboard to align with facility growth can be a major obstacle.

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Challenges related to building or customizing an Epic executive dashboard are common. Fortunately, addressing these challenges and empowering your executives with a robust and efficiently managed dashboard is very possible.  

Syntrix's proprietary healthcare business intelligence system, Smart Medtrix™, offers pre-built healthcare dashboards that let you start analyzing operations without delay. Our healthcare dashboards will let you keep an eye on the big picture while focusing on what matters most. If your organization is not in a position to leverage our pre-built solutions, we can still assist you with all facets of your BI projects, from planning to ongoing support. Syntrix business intelligence professionals are experienced with multiple suites of applications. So, whether you leverage our proprietary tool, Smart Medtrix™, or need custom support, we can help you move quickly from having data to celebrating results.

Contact Syntrix Consulting Group now or request a demo below!