Dashboards to Support Operational Decision Making in Health Centers: A Case for Role Specific Design
ABSTRACT Applying a user centered design (UCD) process within the framework of a learning healthcare system (LHS) this study unearths role specific performance measures to support operational and financial decision making in community health centers (CHCs) We first built a multidimensional EHR/Practice Management data warehouse through a large collaborative of seven CHCs in the state of Indiana aimed at improving efficiency and access to care. A UCD process that comprised contextual interviews, card sorting and high fidelity dashboard prototyping was used to uncover over 45 different operational performance measures, many of which were unique and hitherto unknown measures of relevance to different individual roles within a CHC that included frontline staff, providers, clinical support, and executive management. Within the LHS paradigm, the study highlights the value of role specific performance measurement and their delivery through interactive user centered visualizations, while continuing to guide the development of future informatics tools.
Int. J. Hum. Comput. Interact.