Put an End to the Paper Data Rodeo

Steer wrestling and data chasing (Yes, there is a point to this.)

I admit it. I am a born city slicker who likes to wear jeans, cowboy-style shirts from CAL Ranch, a cowboy hat (although it’s been a while since I donned one of them), and a good comfortable pair of cowboy boots. I’ve ridden a horse a handful of times, almost got thrown once, and chased more cows on foot than I care to count when I worked on a farm one summer when I was 17. Now if that don’t qualify me as a rootin’, tootin’, shootin’ wrangler, well…it just doesn’t. But I do like a good rodeo once in a while. And the event that gets my attention happens to be steer wrestling. (Probably because it’s

the quickest event and I have a short attention span – where was I?) I mean, think about it. The steer and the cowboy are rocketing along side-by-side at about 30 miles per hour. The cowboy then slides off his horse on to a 600 lb. steer, catches it behind the horns, stops its forward momentum, and then has to wrestle it to the ground. The world record currently sits at 2.4 seconds. (It took me longer that 2.4 seconds to write that last sentence.)

So, what in the pea-pickin’ world does data chasin’ have to with steer wrestlin’ or bull doggin’, as it is otherwise called?

Actually a lot. I mean think about it. It’s the end of the week, the month, the quarter, the year, you name it. Whether you’re a corporate or regional VP of Operations, a facility administrator or executive director, or a department head, you have to file reports and be accountable for the stories they tell. I recall years ago, when operating a 120-bed SNF that I had to meet with the RVP each month and, at times, the divisional VP of Operations as well, to review my facility’s performance. I had a rack on wheels on which I kept all the A/R, A/P, payroll, and P&L printouts and my own manually-generated reports.  I would roll that sucker into the facility conference room ready to present and defend my case. In retrospect it is quite comical to think about. The best way to hide a so-so performance was to bury the RVP and AVP in well-organized outdated and irrelevant summaries based on arcane and rearview-focused information. Yee-haw! It weren’t quick, Ma’am, but it sure got the job done. Sadly, it was also meaningless and unnecessarily time consuming.

Succeedin’ in data wrestlin’

What is the secret to successful steer wrestling? Speed, leverage, and strength. In previously posted blogs, we have repeatedly beat the drum of data mining and business intelligence (BI). Succinctly stated, data mining is “technology-driven processes and practices used to convert raw and sometimes disparate data into easy-to-interpret and actionable information.” Business intelligence gives you the speed and leverage to retrieve the data needed to make sound decisions quickly. And like a good “hazer” (the cowboy riding on the right side of the steer to keep it running straight), BI helps decision-makers focus on what really matters without distractions. Here’s how:

• Speed – business intelligence can retrieve data in real time or at least process the data into useful information in real time as soon as the data is available. (Most of our customers want their data retrieved several times a day.) The BI dashboard displays the data in useful graphs, charts, and tables which are readily accessible and easy to interpret and act on.
• Leverage – Such timely and actionable information gives decision-makers the leverage to make the right decisions to seize opportunities and problems and wrestle them to the ground in record time.
• Strength – Because the dashboard is viewable at multiple levels in the organization with roll-up and drill-down capabilities, organizations can concentrate their leaders at multiple levels to make things happen quickly and powerfully.

Providers today have so many issues, challenges, and opportunities before them and so many regulatory, investment, and regional and corporate stakeholders to answer to. It’s insane to try to wrestle that 600 lb. steer of data to retrieve, compile, make sense of, and report without BI. If you have BI, good job. If you don’t or are not fully taking advantage of it, you don’t need a “steer”-ing committee to create one. There are BI tools available right out of the chute, like PCT’s primeVIEW, designed for the LTPAC steer wrestlers, like you, cowboy.

Now, git off’n your high horse and take a gander.