GIS Data Visualization: Indispensable for Policymakers and Community Leaders

The Data! Fostering Health Innovation in Kentucky and Ohio conference
proved to be a showcase for GIS technology in practice.

Geospatial data visualization is an indispensable tool for policymakers and community leaders, as evidenced by yesterday's Data! Fostering Health Innovation in Kentucky and Ohio conference. Although the conference was not intended to be a showcase for geospatial information system (GIS) technology, almost every presenter used geospatial data visualization and analysis to tell their story. In many cases, it was the story.

Here are three highlights from the day.

GE Aviation Uses GIS Data Visualization to Improve Employee Health

GE Aviation is using a customized version of HealthLandscape's Site Performance Explorer to bring common sense and creativity to its efforts to improve employee health. For example, GE used to spread a "Stop Smoking" message only among its workers. Now the company uses GIS data visualization to see the prevalence of smoking in the communities that surround its sites. When a visualization shows high smoking rates, GE extends its nonsmoking promotions throughout the community because the company recognizes that employees are more likely to stop smoking if their friends and family members don't smoke. GE uses their customized app to address other health issues as well, such as improving employee access to primary care providers and promoting health screenings.

Why GIS? Because GIS data visualization draws attention to factors within a community that can directly affect an organization.

The City of Louisville Tackles Asthma Using GIS Data Visualization

Ted Smith, Chief of Economic Growth and Innovation for the city of Louisville, Kentucky, is using GIS data visualization not only to improve residents' health, but also to increase the region's economic vitality.

Statistics show that Louisville has extremely poor air quality--among the worst in the nation--making it a challenging place for people with asthma to live. High asthma-related emergency room admission rates and poor air quality scores make it difficult to attract and retain businesses. Smith has initiated a program with Propeller Health to supply Louisville-area residents with GIS-equipped inhalers. Each time a patient uses their inhaler, sensors record when and where the puff was taken. Analysts then combine inhaler data with weather, air pollution, traffic pattern, and other large data sets to look for ways to intervene, on both the patient and the policy level.

There have already been some surprising findings. For example, residents generally avoid living on the city's west side, where large industrial complexes are located and pollution levels are perceived to be high. Data have shown, however, that particulate matter levels are much higher in Louisville's wealthiest neighborhoods, likely due to weather patterns and the city's topographical characteristics. GIS data visualization shows just how pronounced the difference is.

Why GIS? Because GIS data visualization can show truths that run counter to our intuition.

Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Councils of Government Uses Crowdsourcing to Map Bike Routes 

Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Councils of Government (OKI) wanted to create bike route maps for Northern Kentucky and Ohio. They tried traditional outreach methods (e.g., email, meetings) to engage the cycling community. Their most successful effort was a survey conducted at local bike shops. They received a total of 34 responses.

OKI decided to try a new approach: crowdsourcing. They created a simple online mapping platform and invited the cycling community to add bike routes to the online map. They also invited riders to share their experiences with those routes. The resulting Bike Route Guide is now a permanent part of OKI's website (click here for the link).

Why GIS? Because GIS data visualization can invite participation and community engagement in a way that traditional methods do not.

At HealthLandscape, we strive to create GIS data visualization tools that don't require GIS specialists to use them. We want you to be able to make your data accessible, "mash it up" with other data sets, and use the visualizations to ask questions and formulate solutions to your community's challenges.

To learn more about our GIS data visualizations, attend one of our free webinars.

Introduction to HealthLandscape

In-depth instruction on using HealthLandscape, our free online mapping tool and data library
Thursday, December 5, 2:00 pm ET

The Community Data Portal

In-depth demonstration of our award-winning data dissemination tool
Tuesday, December 10, 2:00 pm EST

Visualizing Data with HealthLandscape

Overview of all of our data visualization tools, including the Site Performance Explorer
Tuesday, December 17, 2:00 pm ET

Agenda Announced for Data! Fostering Health Innovation in Kentucky and Ohio Conference

Data! Fostering Health Innovation in Kentucky and Ohio

Tuesday, November 19, 2013, 9:30 am to 4:00 pm ET

Northern Kentucky University METS Center

FREE

Have you registered yet? You can still get in, but we need your reservation by November 9.

The Data! Fostering Health Innovation in Kentucky and Ohio conference will showcase novel and effective uses of health data in the Kentucky-Ohio region. We'll welcome keynote speakers Dwayne Spradlin (CEO of the Health Data Consortium) and Damon Davis (Director of the Health Data Initiative of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services).

The conference is organized around Thomas R. Frieden's Health Impact Pyramid. The Health Impact Pyramid is a framework that describes different types of public health interventions. Interventions at the base of the pyramid (socioeconomic factors) have potential to impact the greatest number of people; interventions at the top of the framework (counseling and education) require more work on an individual level. (Click here to read a great blog post by Jennifer Chubinski, Director of Community Research at Interact for Health, which presents readers' suggestions on how to apply the pyramid.)

Panel sessions will address three of the five tiers of the Health Impact Pyramid.

Socioeconomic Factors Panel: moderated by Ross Meyer, Vice President, Community Impact, United Way of Greater Cincinnati

• Simplifying Data to Drive Health and Productivity Strategies: Craig Osterhues, Manager, Health Services, GE Aviation
• UDS Mapper: Jennifer Rankin, Geospatial Informatics Senior Analyst, Robert Graham Center
• Exploring the Facts Matter Data Portal: Eric Rademacher, Co-Director, Institute for Policy Research, University of Cincinnati

Changing the Context Panel: moderated by Gabriela Alcalde, Health Policy Director, The Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky

• Mapping Louisville's Urban Trees: Collecting Baseline Data for a Healthier Community: Pat Smith, Community Planner and Evaluation Researcher with REACH Evaluation and Director, City Collaborative
• Food Deserts in Hamilton County: Chris Auffrey, Associate Professor, School of Planning, University of Cincinnati
• Exploring Access to Walking and Biking Trails Using Sidewalk Audits and Participatory Mapping: Michael Topmiller, Doctoral Candidate, Department of Geography, University of Cincinnati and GIS Data Specialist, HealthLandscape, LLC
• The Cincinnati Bike Flash Map Campaign: Using a Crowd Source Strategy to Map Bike Routes in Cincinnati: Gayle Foster, Project Administrator, Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments

Long-Lasting Protective and Clinical Interventions: moderated by Karen Bankston, Associate Dean of Clinical Practice, Partnership, and Community Engagement, University of Cincinnati College of Nursing

• Louisville Asthmapolis Project, Civic Health Data: Citizen as Sensors: Ted Smith, Chief of Economic Growth and Innovation, Louisville Metro Government
• M2M Online Delivery: Healthcare's Next Megatrend: Chuck Thornbury, Founder, meVisit Technologies
• Overview of the Health Benefit Exchange, KyNect: Carrie Banahan, Executive Director, and Bill Nold, Deputy Executive Director, Kentucky Office of the Health Benefit Exchange

And we'll announce the winner of our infographic competition!

We invite your participation on November 19. Lunch is provided, and you'll have an opportunity for roundtable discussions with the panelists.

Only a few spots remain, so register today!

Please note: The conference is co-sponsored by HealthLandscape, Interact for Health, and the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky. Registration is free, but we must assess a $75 cancellation charge for any guest who cancels after November 9.

When Do I Use QuickThemes? When Do I Use QuickGeocodes?

Have you ever tried plugging your own data into HealthLandscape and not gotten the results you expected? This happened to one of our users recently. After a quick phone call, we realized we needed to offer some clarification on using QuickThemes and QuickGeocodes.

QuickThemes and QuickGeocodes are two of HealthLandscape's most powerful and popular tools. Both tools:

• Enable you to upload your own data and create your own maps.
• Require no GIS expertise to use them.
• Are free for small data sets. Simply log in to www.HealthLandscape.org to get started and select either QuickThemes or QuickGeocodes from the Tools menu.

There is one major difference between the two tools:

• QuickThemes requires aggregate data.
• QuickGeocodes requires address (a.k.a. point-level) data.

This is important, because if you upload the wrong kind of data into the tool, the tool will not work.

Aggregate data "rolls up" individual pieces of data into one collection--a summary, if you will. You see information that applies to a geographical area (sometimes called a geography) rather than to individuals within the geography. It's impossible to garner person- or site-specific information from aggregate data.

Address data (a.k.a. point-level data) is very specific. In GIS terms, it can be displayed as a single point on a map. The point could represent the address of a school, the address of a farmer's market, or even the address of a specific person. Because of that specific address, anyone who views the map can figure out a lot about that person or site. You have to be careful about how you use point-level data. You don't want to inadvertently invade someone's privacy or misuse their data.

Here's a scenario that might further clarify the difference. Perhaps you work for a community health agency that provides on-site clinic care, but also offers in-home support to selected patients. You have a spreadsheet that contains the addresses for every patient you have served over the past year. When would it make sense to use QuickThemes, and when would it be better to use QuickGeocodes?

You might use QuickThemes when you want to see which Zip codes or counties most of your clients come from, or if you're trying to figure out where to locate a new clinic site. Take the spreadsheet, total the number of patients from each county, and map those totals against the corresponding county. You could also tally other demographic information, such as race, insurance status, employment status, or other data variables you collect.

The map might look something like this:

Map created using HealthLandscape's QuickThemes tool.
QuickThemes creates maps of aggregate data.

You might use QuickGeocodes when you are trying to understand where patients with asthma or diabetes are located. You could display those addresses on a map, and send a diabetes educator to visit homes of patients' whose glucose levels exceed a certain threshold.
The map might look something like this:

Map created using HealthLandscape's QuickGeocodes tool.
QuickGeocodes creates maps of point-level data.

Twice a month, we offer free "Introduction to HealthLandscape" webinars to help you use HealthLandscape effectively in your context. All of our webinars are live, so they are perfect opportunities to get clarification and ask questions.

Register today!

Introduction to HealthLandscape

In-depth instruction on using HealthLandscape, our free online mapping tool and data library
Tuesday, October 29, 2:00 pm ET

The Community Data Portal

In-depth demonstration of our award-winning data dissemination tool
Thursday, November 7, 2:00 pm EST

Visualizing Data with HealthLandscape

Overview of all of our data visualization tools, including the Site Performance Explorer
Wednesday, November 20, 2:00 pm ET

New GIS Visualization: The Inpatient Hospital Costs Explorer

Today we are at the Esri Health Conference in Cambridge, Mass., presenting the Inpatient (IP) Hospital Costs Explorer. The IP Hospital Costs Explorer, one of our newest visualizations, lets users compare US hospitals on two measures:

• Price
• Quality

The IP Hospital Costs Explorer combines two data sets: Medicare Provider Charge Data (Inpatient), which was just released in May, and Hospital Compare Patient Survey Data (from Medicare.gov). Patients, their families and caregivers, and clinicians can use the Explorer to make an informed decision about which hospital may provide the best care experience.

Users begin by choosing a geographic area. (The version shown has selected indicators for Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana.) A green circle indicates hospitals with low costs, yellow indicates hospitals with moderate costs, and red indicates hospitals with high costs.

The Inpatient (IP) Hospital Costs Explorer showing hospitals with low (green),
medium (yellow), and high (red) costs for the top 100 Medicare diagnosis-related groups.

When users click one of the circles, flyout menus appear that give more detail about the cost of specific covered charges. (The data set includes selected indicators from the 100 most common Medicare DRGs.) There is also a flyout menu that shows patient satisfaction survey results. This is particularly helpful when costs are similar between two hospitals.

Flyout menus give additional detail about hospital costs and patient satisfaction survey results for each hospital.

The IP Hospital Costs Explorer also includes the Medicare Data Portal, which presents data from the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare (CMS) Geographic Variation database and the Chronic Conditions warehouse at the hospital referral region (HRR) level. Users can visualize the data through maps, graphs, and charts, and can also examine the relationship between two indicators using comparison tools.

The Medicare Data Portal, showing the prevalence of Alzheimer's Disease by hospital referral region.
The Columbus, Ohio, hospital referral region is highlighted.

Learn more about the IP Hospital Costs Explorer and other HealthLandscape GIS visualizations by attending one of our free live webinars:

Visualizing Data with HealthLandscape

Overview of all of our data visualization tools, including the Site Performance Explorer
Tuesday, October 22, 2:00 pm ET

Introduction to HealthLandscape

In-depth instruction on using HealthLandscape, our free online mapping tool and data library
Tuesday, October 29, 2:00 pm ET

The Community Data Portal

In-depth demonstration of our award-winning data dissemination tool
Thursday, November 7, 2:00 pm EST

Three Reasons Interactive GIS Data Visualizations Get Your Message Across Faster

Last week, we were among the featured innovators at an event that brought together emerging life science companies, prospective investors, policymakers, and other people who want to significantly improve health in the Greater Cincinnati region.

We set up in a beautifully appointed conference room and began rolling a video that highlighted several of the HealthLandscape tools on a giant LED monitor. Our presentation commanded the audience's attention.

Why? What was so compelling about these interactive maps?

We noticed that almost every person who stepped into the room engaged with what they were seeing in the same three ways:

They immediately had a frame of reference.

What did they look for first? Their neighborhood. Their community. Their landmarks. They quickly found where they belonged, and shifted their focus to the data we were presenting. We didn't have to spend time setting up the context. They already had it.

They immediately began looking for patterns.

People began asking questions and making observations: Why are so many clustered in that area? What does that shading represent? That's not what I would have expected there. I'm surprised that number isn't higher. People quickly began trying to make sense of the complex data. Seeing the data geographically energized and engaged them.

They immediately wanted to take the data further.

Once the initial observations were made, the audience wanted to dig deeper. They wanted to find meaning in the data. They wanted to not just observe a pattern but also understand why the pattern might be occurring. Is there a high level of unemployment in that area? What about poverty? Does that cluster of people with severe heart disease have access to a hospital? Because of HealthLandscape's interactive design and full library of community data, their questions could be addressed as their mental wheels were turning, while they were beginning to imagine ways to meet the identified need.

Our minds process visual information more quickly than textual information. One writer demonstrates this by placing a drawing of a circle next to a paragraph of text that gives a definition of a circle. Which do you have to work harder to understand: the image or the definition? And which will you remember?

Which do you understand more quickly--the map or the table? Both show the same data.

While any visualization has the potential to be "sticky," GIS visualizations go one step further because viewers have the potential to make a personal connection with the data. Your audience, whether it is a community of care providers, policymakers, funders, or the very people you serve, look for where they are in relation to the data, and ask, "How does this affect me?"

To learn more about HealthLandscape's interactive GIS data visualizations, attend one of our regularly scheduled webinars:

The Community Data Portal

In-depth demonstrations of our award-winning data dissemination tool
Thursday, October 3, 2:00 pm ET

Introduction to HealthLandscape

In-depth instruction on using HealthLandscape, our free online mapping tool and data library
Tuesday, October 8, 2:00 pm ET

Visualizing Data with HealthLandscape

Overview of all of our data visualization tools, including the Site Performance Explorer
Tuesday, October 22, 2:00 pm ET

 

Data Visualization: Luxury or Necessity for Managing Population Health?

This is National Health IT Week. We're participating in the National Health IT Week Blog Carnival, offering our perspective on "The Value of Health IT" to improve healthcare delivery. Click here to see other National Health IT Week blog posts. Read contributions from Cincinnati-based health IT companies at Innov8 for Health.

Health IT is transforming healthcare delivery. Electronic medical records are in use in almost every hospital system and physician practice. Apps that help patients track glucose levels, medications, sleep cycles, and more are being introduced and improved daily. These are terrific innovations at the patient level. But how is Health IT being applied to population health?

One answer: data visualization.

Visualization tools--no matter the industry--make it easier to see relationships and identify patterns among data sets. In the field of population heath, where the twin goals of managing cost and providing quality healthcare often seem to be at odds, data visualization tools offer users a way of aggregating, displaying, and making sense of information, especially information that comes from disparate sources.

At one time, we used visuals to make our point, tell our story, and--let's be honest--keep our audience engaged and awake during presentations. We thought that was enough, and that anything "beyond the basics" was overkill--a waste of both time and money.

We can no longer afford to be so complacent. Today's visualization tools have evolved from pretty picture generators to genuine decision-making tools. Most data visualization tools can give you:

• Real-time data analysis
• Trend analysis
• Dashboards that alert you to values that fall outside of established benchmarks
• The ability to visualize multiple data sets from multiple sources
• Interactivity
• Access to data for non-data specialists

HealthLandscape specializes in online mapping tools, which give users the ability to see geographic variations among the populations they serve. This is especially critical in today's health care environment, where providers are increasingly held responsible not only for the health of their patients, but also for the health of their communities.

Health promotion efforts focus on reaching populations at-risk for chronic conditions such as diabetes, respiratory diseases, and heart conditions before these conditions manifest. Health management plans now incorporate community-based care as a way of decreasing costs and improving clinical outcomes.

Bottom line: It's impossible to manage the health of a community without knowing that community.

To learn more about HealthLandscape's data visualizations, attend one of our regularly scheduled webinars:

The Community Data Portal

In-depth demonstrations of our award-winning data dissemination tool
Thursday, September 19, 3:00 pm ET

Visualizing Data with HealthLandscape

Overview of all of our data visualization tools, including the Site Performance Explorer
Tuesday, September 24, 2:00 pm ET

 

Introduction to HealthLandscape

In-depth instruction on using HealthLandscape, our free online mapping tool and data library
Thursday, September 26, 2:00 pm

How Are You Measuring Health Promotion in Your Region?

How do you measure health promotion activities in your region? What performance indicators show that your health promotion efforts are producing results?

We're curious because one of our partner organizations, The Health Foundation of Greater Cincinnati,* has shifted its strategic direction away from access to care and toward health promotion. Now called Interact for Health, the organization's primary focus is on:

• Healthy eating
• Active living
• Mental and emotional well-being
• Healthy choices about substance use

Interact for Health has organized its new strategy around the National Prevention Council's National Prevention Strategy. In Appendix 2, the document lists categories of key indicators, including:

• Goal indicators
• Leading causes of death
• Healthy and safe community environments
• Clinical and community preventive services
• Empowered people
• Elimination of health disparities
• Tobacco-free living
• Preventing drug abuse and excessive alcohol use
• Healthy eating
• Active living
• Injury and violence-free living
• Reproductive and sexual health
• Mental and emotional well-being

Many of the data sets that match the key indicators listed in the National Prevention Strategy are included in HealthLandscape's Community HealthView tool, which is easily accessible, free, and ready to use. To learn how to access data in Community HealthView, click the link below to sign up for an Introduction to HealthLandscape webinar.

How are you measuring health promotion? What's working for you?

*HealthLandscape, LLC is a partnership of Interact for Health and the American Academy of Family Physicians' Robert Graham Center.