Managing a behavioral health or human services organization is no small feat. Leaders must work diligently to maintain a high-quality of patient care and appropriate staffing levels while dealing with limited funding. To do that effectively, they need to stay on top of all of their business data to make informed decisions on hiring, budgeting, and patient care.
Business intelligence reporting is designed to help leaders understand what’s going on within their company through data trends, helpful graphs, and interactive data dashboards. Find out how business intelligence reporting can help behavioral health professionals improve workflows and decision-making, and how to choose the right tool to manage the reporting process.
What Is Business Intelligence Reporting?
Business intelligence (BI) reporting is the process of preparing and analyzing data and delivering it in an understandable manner. Business users often use this data analysis to understand key activities within their organization, such as labor spending, hiring needs, employee attendance, and overall business performance. These reports are typically created and delivered by business intelligence reporting apps or software.
BI reporting can be used for a variety of purposes related to recruiting, performance management, revenue cycle management, compliance, and other use cases. The right platform can simplify and largely automate the data analysis process so that employees don’t need to manually enter and review data to find the information they need to make the decisions at hand. This saves time and leaves less room for error.
What to Look For in Business Intelligence Reporting Software
While most behavioral health organizations have enormous patient and workforce data at their disposal, many don’t have the necessary tools to turn big data into actionable insights. That’s why it’s important to shop around for the right BI tool.
Selecting human capital management (HCM) software with strong business intelligence features can help companies make better decisions and get a clearer view of their workforce. Meanwhile, many electronic health records (EHR) now include advanced business intelligence tools.
If you’re having trouble sorting through your options, here are some of the top features to look for when deciding on a business intelligence solution.
A Mix of Granular Data and Big Picture Analytics
Business reporting is most useful when it provides access to big-picture data as well as more granular information. This allows users to extract a wide variety of organizational insights from analytical processing. For instance, you may want to view data analytics by employee, position, department, or for the whole company.
One way to make sure that a software solution provides all of the key metrics that your organization needs is to dig into the available reporting tools. It’s best to go with a provider that offers a large number of standardized reports as well as customized reporting.
Customized reporting allows you to tailor your reports to your specific business needs to access the most relevant information. ContinuumCloud’s HCM platform includes over 70 real-time reports tailored to the behavioral health industry. Users can also use the custom report writer to merge and layer data sets for deeper data analysis into granular items.
It can also help to consider the type of information that you’ll want to dive into, such as industry-specific information or key performance indicators (KPIs). For example, behavioral health organizations may want to view reporting on employee credentialing to view upcoming license expiration dates. They may also want to review KPIs related to patient outcomes, such as average wait times or patient satisfaction survey results. ContinuumCloud’s business intelligence reporting is designed specifically to fit those needs in the HCM platform and EHR, respectively.
Real-Time Information
Administrators and leaders should be able to access real-time insights through interactive dashboards and self-service BI report functionality. Having up-to-date information can guide decision-making based on current business needs. This can include big-picture business decisions, such as making workplace policy or strategy changes as well as smaller day-to-day choices.
For example, managers may want to view real-time insights on labor costs to see if they’re going to exceed their daily or weekly labor budget. By viewing labor costs in real-time, they can quickly make decisions regarding overtime or adjust the schedule in order to stay on budget. Since behavioral health organizations have tight budgets and can’t afford to overspend, having real-time data on labor costs can be particularly helpful in maintaining the financial sustainability of the company.
Data Visualization Tools
Data visualization involves using graphs to visually display data or information. Many people find it easier to understand data when it’s represented visually, so you’ll want BI software with strong data visualization features.
These graphs can also be included in reports and presentations to board members, executives, or funders to help them understand the data quickly. These decision-makers generally want to view key information on profitability, patient outcomes, staffing needs, and key performance indicators without having to personally spend the time digging through spreadsheets or data sets to understand the information. Data visualization organizes the data in a quickly understandable manner for busy stakeholders.
User-Friendly Interface
Behavioral health organizations often fall far behind other healthcare specialties in terms of adopting new technologies. For instance, psychiatric hospitals use EHRs at a 46% rate, while 96% in general medicine and surgical practices are using EHRs. While new technologies like EHRs with business intelligence reporting offer easy access to patient data and reporting, many behavioral health providers have lagged behind partly due to reluctance from staff.
With this challenge in mind, it’s imperative for behavioral health leaders to choose BI reporting tools that prioritize ease of use. A complex user interface may discourage hesitant staff from fully diving into the BI platform and taking advantage of all of the analytics tools and dashboards. Moreover, information should be presented in natural language so that even less tech-savvy staff can easily read and understand it.
ContinuumCloud provides user-friendly dashboards for managers, administrators, and executives to get a quick view of important business intelligence metrics. These interactive dashboards help business users stay on top of trends, relevant updates, and key alerts to better manage their teams.
Unified Data
Having a single source of data allows organizations to get more out of their business intelligence reporting. Many modular systems do a subpar job of accurately compiling information from different data sources such as a payroll software, benefits portal, and an HRIS system.
With a unified platform like ContinuumCloud, all data is compiled in one place, providing a single source of truth. This means that organizations don’t have to worry about compiling HR data from various sources or reconciling discrepancies between different systems.
Explore ContinuumCloud’s Business Intelligence Reporting Tools
ContinuumCloud’s HCM platform is the only human capital management platform created specifically for behavioral health and human services organizations. That focus also extends to the business intelligence reporting functions, which are designed to provide the most relevant insights for behavioral health professionals.
Plus, ContinuumCloud’s EHR software can provide business intelligence reporting related to case management and patient care so that organizations can monitor the quality of care that patients are receiving. The HCM and EHR can also be integrated for even more powerful BI reporting.
Contact us today to find out how ContinuumCloud can help your company meet its goals.
