Leveraging Data Visualization Tools to Promote Health Equity

From testing to care access, organizations had to develop strategies to ensure they were reaching populations most at risk during the pandemic. With the availability of vaccines, entities had to refine and enhance their health equity efforts to adequately protect all patient groups against the virus.

The health system used the EHR to capture social determinants information and identify patients with transportation barriers, unstable housing, limited English proficiency, and other elements that could impact their ability to get the vaccine or their susceptibility to the virus.

Leaders then combined that information with data visualization tools based on zip code to identify neighborhoods that needed more attention.

Incorporating all of this information into a visualization tool is key for demonstrating why targeting strategies are necessary, Sederstrom explained. Additionally, data visualization tools can help healthcare executives understand what’s working and what needs to improve.