The Ask the Analyst series is a deep dive into the data by those most familiar with the CO APCD – the analysts themselves. We’ll hear about their experiences with recent analyses and answer any pressing questions that come up. Have a question for the CIVHC Analyst Team? Email it to info@civhc.org.
Analyst Name: Emma Anderson, MA, Health Care Reporting Analyst
Featured Project: Telehealth Services Analysis
1.) What were your first steps when beginning this analysis?
Since this was an already existing report, the first steps this year were to determine what gaps in information our audience may be interested in that was not addressed last time around and what user-experience functionality may be able to be improved. Once this feedback was gathered and discussed by the team, mockups to improve the Tableau report design were created.
2.) Were there specific considerations you needed to consider based on the data?
This year, we wanted to include more information regarding member demographics as related to telehealth cost and utilization. We needed to carefully consider what age, race, and sex breakdowns and telehealth metrics would be valuable to see from the audience’s point of view.
3.) What challenges did you encounter while performing the analysis? How did you overcome them?
The biggest challenge was making sure the audience would have a clear understanding of the metrics we portray throughout the report – utilization rate, cost per person per year, etc. To assist with a general audience’s understanding of this data, we added information icons and instructions throughout the report, so users could read helpful explanations in real time as they dig into the data.