By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept
SmartData Collective
  • Analytics
    AnalyticsShow More
    data analytics in sports industry
    Here’s How Data Analytics In Sports Is Changing The Game
    6 Min Read
    data analytics on nursing career
    Advances in Data Analytics Are Rapidly Transforming Nursing
    8 Min Read
    data analytics reveals the benefits of MBA
    Data Analytics Technology Proves Benefits of an MBA
    9 Min Read
    data-driven image seo
    Data Analytics Helps Marketers Substantially Boost Image SEO
    8 Min Read
    construction analytics
    5 Benefits of Analytics to Manage Commercial Construction
    5 Min Read
  • Big Data
  • BI
  • Exclusive
  • IT
  • Marketing
  • Software
Search
© 2008-23 SmartData Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Reading: Using Link Analysis to Plan the Healthcare System
Share
Notification Show More
Latest News
big data mac performance
Data-Driven Tips to Optimize the Speed of Macs
News
3 Ways AI Has Helped Marketers and Creative Professionals Streamline Workflows
3 Ways AI Has Helped Marketers and Creative Professionals Streamline Workflows
Artificial Intelligence
data analytics in sports industry
Here’s How Data Analytics In Sports Is Changing The Game
Big Data
data analytics on nursing career
Advances in Data Analytics Are Rapidly Transforming Nursing
Analytics
data analytics reveals the benefits of MBA
Data Analytics Technology Proves Benefits of an MBA
Analytics
Aa
SmartData Collective
Aa
Search
  • About
  • Help
  • Privacy
Follow US
© 2008-23 SmartData Collective. All Rights Reserved.
SmartData Collective > Business Intelligence > Using Link Analysis to Plan the Healthcare System
Business Intelligence

Using Link Analysis to Plan the Healthcare System

vincentg64
Last updated: 2010/09/13 at 4:49 PM
vincentg64
5 Min Read
SHARE

Link Analysis can be used to understand where patients go to receive healthcare treatment and to identify bottlenecks in service that must be addressed. It is an interesting form of datamining that involves tracking populations as they move from point to point in a system. This analysis requires an ability to create hierarchical buckets (population segments) so that analysis may focus on the ‘% of the population’ as it moves from point to point in a system.

Link Analysis can be used to understand where patients go to receive healthcare treatment and to identify bottlenecks in service that must be addressed. It is an interesting form of datamining that involves tracking populations as they move from point to point in a system. This analysis requires an ability to create hierarchical buckets (population segments) so that analysis may focus on the ‘% of the population’ as it moves from point to point in a system. At one point, I know that SPSS and SAS datamining software had modules that automated this datamining process, and I once used a DataMart (Analytix) with a ‘Segment Manager’ module that was great for hierarchical programming.

Every Canadian has a Health Card that he or she must present when visiting a family physician, healthcare specialist (eg, Neurosurgeon), MRI or X-Ray clinic, hospital, medical centre, or other healthcare provider treatment. Data warehouses store details of every visit including a unique identifier code for every healthcare provider who was involved in the treatment. The healthcare provider who made the referral, the date on which the referral was made, and who the patient is scheduled to see next are also captured. With this data, a patient may be tracked as he or she moves from one healthcare provider to the next in the system.

As an example, let’s assume that there are the following fields of information about healthcare visits for 100 patients in a given month:

More Read

3 Ways AI Has Helped Marketers and Creative Professionals Streamline Workflows

3 Ways AI Has Helped Marketers and Creative Professionals Streamline Workflows

5 Proven Tips for Utilizing AI with PPC Advertising in 2023
5 Ways AI Technology Has Disrupted Website Development
Fortifying Enterprise Digital Security Against Hackers Weaponizing AI
10 Ways How Artificial Intelligence Is Changing the Content Writing Landscape

– patient identifier (HEALTH CARD #)
– date/time stamp of visit (VISIT DATE/TIME)
– code of the healthcare provider visited (PROVIDER VISIT)
– reason for visit (VISIT REASON)
– code of healthcare provider to whom patient is referred (PROVIDER REFERRAL)

Data exploration reveals that one or more of the following healthcare providers (PROVIDER) were visited by at least one or more patient during the month in question:

– Hospital (1111)
– Medical Centre 1 (2345)
– Medical Centre 2 (2346)
– Physician 1 (0023)
– Physician 2 (0024)
– Laboratory 1 (3346)

A preliminary analysis of the raw visit data may indicate that several patients have visited more than one healthcare provider, while others may have visited multiple providers on the same day.

Before a Link Analysis may be conducted, the PROVIDER VISIT and PROVIDER REFERRAL variables must be transformed from row to column format for each patient. For example, ‘Medical Centre 1’ must change from being a value in the PROVIDER variable to a boolean variable, and multiple visits to Medical Centre 1 require matching variables to capture this activity. ‘Medical Centre 1a’ and ‘Medical Centre 1b’ variables will capture that a patient made two visits to Medical Centre 1, whether on the same day or on different days. It is critical that the VISIT DATE/TIME variable be used to order the multiple provider variables from first to last date/time of visit. The process must be followed for each of the other 5 healthcare provider values in the PROVIDER variable.

Once this datashaping has been completed, the newly-created boolean variables must be rolled-up to reflect the ‘% of the population’ as it moves through each healthcare provider for treatment. SAS and SPSS had a tool that would present results in the form of a web: a thicker line connecting two healthcare providers reflecting a higher ‘% of the population’ that traveled between them. Viewing Link Analysis results graphically might lead us to conclude that there are bottlenecks in the healthcare system or providers who must have their patient load reduced and shared withy others.

vincentg64 September 13, 2010
Share this Article
Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn
Share

Follow us on Facebook

Latest News

big data mac performance
Data-Driven Tips to Optimize the Speed of Macs
News
3 Ways AI Has Helped Marketers and Creative Professionals Streamline Workflows
3 Ways AI Has Helped Marketers and Creative Professionals Streamline Workflows
Artificial Intelligence
data analytics in sports industry
Here’s How Data Analytics In Sports Is Changing The Game
Big Data
data analytics on nursing career
Advances in Data Analytics Are Rapidly Transforming Nursing
Analytics

Stay Connected

1.2k Followers Like
33.7k Followers Follow
222 Followers Pin

You Might also Like

3 Ways AI Has Helped Marketers and Creative Professionals Streamline Workflows
Artificial Intelligence

3 Ways AI Has Helped Marketers and Creative Professionals Streamline Workflows

6 Min Read
ai in ppc advertising
Artificial Intelligence

5 Proven Tips for Utilizing AI with PPC Advertising in 2023

10 Min Read
ai in web design
Artificial Intelligence

5 Ways AI Technology Has Disrupted Website Development

7 Min Read
Digital Security From Weaponized AI
Security

Fortifying Enterprise Digital Security Against Hackers Weaponizing AI

11 Min Read

SmartData Collective is one of the largest & trusted community covering technical content about Big Data, BI, Cloud, Analytics, Artificial Intelligence, IoT & more.

data-driven web design
5 Great Tips for Using Data Analytics for Website UX
Big Data
ai is improving the safety of cars
From Bolts to Bots: How AI Is Fortifying the Automotive Industry
Artificial Intelligence

Quick Link

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
Follow US

© 2008-23 SmartData Collective. All Rights Reserved.

Removed from reading list

Undo
Go to mobile version
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Lost your password?