Every day, countless decisions are made by UTMB leadership, faculty and staff. They can range from deciding to order additional office supplies to approving a plan to build a new pediatric clinic on the mainland. But how are these decisions made? Experience, knowledge or maybe an educated guess?

In the ever-evolving health care industry -- with consolidations, shifting reimbursement structures and growing competition -- nothing can be left to chance.

“We need to make sure that we are making strategic, data-driven decisions across UTMB in order to improve our performance and be the best that we can be in all areas, from patient care and research to education and finance,” said Todd Leach, vice president and chief information officer.

That’s where the concept of business intelligence, or BI, comes in. BI refers to the use of technology to collect and effectively transform data into useful information that will help drive good business decisions. UTMB is one of a growing number of health care organizations across the country implementing business intelligence tools. UTMB generates massive amounts of data on a daily basis from sources like electronic health records, supply orders, insurance claims, phone calls and more. And while collecting all of this data is one step, making sense of it and drawing valuable insights from it is much more complicated.

Leach points to Walmart as one of the original companies to incorporate business intelligence tools.

“When we walk into Walmart, they already know how much on average we will spend, what products we will buy, whether we’ll pay cash or credit, etc.,” said Leach. “Now apply that to our patients. If we had the capability to predict when patients were going to see a doctor, how often and what services they need, that would help us improve the quality of care, as well as manage our costs more efficiently.”

To begin the process of incorporating business intelligence tools into UTMB’s planning, President David Callender created the Enterprise Business Intelligence Governance Committee (EBIGC) nearly two years ago. As a cross-mission group, the EBICG addresses the needs of the institution’s entire enterprise, providing an integrated and aligned system to ensure that EBI priorities align with UTMB’s Road Ahead strategic plan. The group is charged with developing a system for managing UTMB data and analytics through a single, reliable, accessible and well-managed source called an enterprise data warehouse (EDW).

“It’s a big undertaking and could be overwhelming if you try to tackle all of it at once,” said Leach, who is also a member of the EBIGC. “We’re investing a little bit at a time in the EBI infrastructure to ensure each investment generates a good return. When it comes to data, quality trumps quantity. We are certainly working toward building a capability to leverage big data, but if you can’t handle small and medium data, then you’ll have trouble managing Big Data.”

Rebecca Saavedra, vice president for Strategic Management and EBIGC member, concurs. Her office helps facilitate the process, answer questions and gathers input for UTMB’s enterprise business intelligence efforts. She added, “We are prioritizing and building the EDW project by project. We have developed a BI Road Map that is driven by the critical data needs necessary to achieve the overall vision of UTMB.”

Priority projects include:

  • Professional and technical cost reporting
  • Population health management
  • Clinical quality and safety analytics
  • Institutional scorecards to track progress on goals
  • Financial reporting and forecasting
  • Clinical service line efficiency and profitability
  • Research performance and productivity
  • Value-based purchasing

Although access to the EDW will be widely distributed, Leach says protocols have been put in place to ensure the security of the institution’s data. Those who seek access to a particular set of data will first have to receive approval.

Already, the use of business intelligence has made a difference at UTMB. For example, the use of BI has enhanced UTMB’s abilities to track the outcomes of demonstration projects implemented under the Medicaid 1115 waiver. Having the capability to capture, analyze and make improvements based on reliable data has allowed UTMB to earn federal payments in excess of $4 million from the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid. As more projects are implemented, the use of BI is expected to continue advancing efforts to better understand and care for patient populations, while also controlling costs.

“Business intelligence is a key element to sustainability and the future of UTMB,” said Saavedra. “If we don’t have the analytical capabilities, we won’t be able to compete. But we have recognized this early on and our leadership has the foresight to think about what’s happening now and what will happen 10, 20 years down the road.”

Enterprise Business Intelligence Governance Committee: Leadership Across Missions

  • David Anderson, Chief Administrative Officer -- Academic Enterprise
  • William Calhoun, Vice Chair for Research, Department of Internal Medicine
  • Jimmy Clark, Associate Vice President, Planning & Systems Management -- Academic Enterprise
  • David Connaughton, Vice President, Finance -- Clinical Enterprise
  • Mark Kirschbaum, Vice President and Chief Quality, Safety & Clinical Information Officer
  • Todd Leach, Vice President and Chief Information Officer – Information Services
  • Steve Lieberman, Senior Dean for Administration -- Academic Enterprise
  • Rex McCallum, Vice President and Chief Physician Executive
  • David Niesel, Vice President and Dean, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, and Chief Research Officer
  • Selwyn Rogers, Vice President and Chief Medical Officer
  • Rebecca Saavedra, Vice President, Strategic Management (Facilitator)
  • Michael Scheer, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer -- Academic Enterprise