Application Case 3.2 Data Warehousing Helps MultiCare Save More Lives In the spring of 2012, leadership at MultiCare Health leaders and to drive accountability for performance System (MultiCare) - a Tacoma, Washington-based improvement. health system-realized the results of a 12-month Because it proved difficult to define sepsis due joumey to reduce septicemia. to the complex comorbidity factors leading to sep- The effort was supported by the system's ticemia, MultiCare partnered with Health Catalyst top leadership, who participated in a data-driven to refine the clinical definition of sepsis. Health approach to prioritize care improvement based on Catalyst's data work allowed MultiCare to explore an analysis of resources consumed and variation in around the boundaries of the definition and to ulticare outcomes. Reducing septicemia (mortality rates) mately settle on an algorithm that defined a septic was a top priority for MultiCare as a result of three patient. The iterative work resulted in increased conhospitals performing below, and one that was per- fidence in the severe sepsis cohort. forming well below, national mortality averages. In September 2010, MultiCare implemented System-Wide Critical Care Collaborative Health Catalyst's Adaptive Data Warehouse, a The establishment and collaborative efforts of perical and process improvement services to measure manent, integrated teams consisting of clinicians, and effect care through organizational and process technologists, analysts, and quality personnel were improvements. Two major factors contributed to the essential for accelerating MultiCare's efforts to rapid reduction in septicemia mortality. reduce septicemia mortality. Together the collabontive addressed three key bodies of work-standard of care definition, early identification, and efficient Clinical Data to Drive Improvement delivery of defined-care standard. The Adaptive Data Warehouse TM organized and simplified data from multiple data sources across the Standard of Care: Severe Sepsis continuum of care. It became the single source of Order Set truth requisite to see care improvement opportuni- The Critical Care Collaborative streamlined several ties and to measure change. It also proved to be an sepsis order sets from across the organization into important means to unify clinical, IT, and financial one system-wide standard for the care of severely Questions for Discussion What do you think is the role of data warehousing in healthcare systems? How did MultiCare use data warehousing to improve health outcomes