Heatmap, a Visual Tool for Comparative Analytics

through collaborative high quality data management and actionable comparative reports

VPS has incorporated a Heatmap into the on-demand VPS reports as it ranks hospital performance in comparative studies.  The tool shows a visual comparison between multiple metrics and hospitals in one snapshot.  In its current form, the Heatmap ignores correlations between the metrics used to build it and overlaps between individual metric distributions.  The set of metrics utilized to build the Heatmap were selected by an expert panel of VPS clinicians including the placement of the cells along the percentile ranges used mean values or percentages of the metrics.  Other central tendency measures could be used but the Heatmap enables a relative comparison.

The Heatmap uses ranges with composite metrics.  Each range is assigned a color and a numerical metric score, which reflects a degree of clinical benefit.  For example, since low mortality (low SMR) is a desirable outcome, the Heatmap assigns it a large numerical metric score represented by the color green.  Similarly, high mortality (high SMR) receives a low metric score represented by the color red denoting hindrance.

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VPS presented the poster: Heatmap, a Visual Tool for Comparative Analytics, at the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA), November of 2018, in San Francisco, CA. Below is a sample from the poster, and the option to download the entire poster.  

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