Spanish Hospital Improves Patient Care with SAS Visual Analytics

CARY, N.C., Nov. 3 — Hospital Universitari i Politècnic La Fe de Valencia is the first Spanish hospital to use advanced analytics and visual data mining to help improve outcomes for patients with chronic conditions. Through the La Fe Institute for Health Research, the hospital will implement SAS Visual Analytics, SAS’ flagship analytics visualization software, to help improve patient management and care.

Chronic care is a priority for Hospital La Fe’s Health Department, with five percent of its patients classified as high-complexity chronic patients, and 15 percent medium complexity. The hospital already has information about these patients and any potential risk or aggravation of their illnesses. Implementing SAS advanced analytics gives the hospital added value from this data by using predictive analytics to inform care.

Hospital La Fe had already conducted a project to collect and integrate data. When it came time to select an analytical solution for mining this data, the strengths of SAS Visual Analytics were clear. The solution’s user-friendly, analytical and exploratory environment would encourage more proactive strategies to manage health care services and the diseases of chronic patients.

“This project is among many innovative measures Hospital La Fe has undertaken to improve the quality of information, better align the data with our strategic needs, and improve decision making in clinical management,” said Dr. Bernardo Valdivieso, Director of Planning and Project Leader. “SAS Visual Analytics lets us go beyond data collection and explore the knowledge that emerges in a graphical way. In addition, it’s very user-friendly interface enables the medical team to easily detect new opportunities for improvement, without the need for technical or analytical skills.”

Hospital La Fe is a pioneer in the implementation of business analytics. The volume of data generated by organizations is growing exponentially, creating a challenge to extract value. With SAS Visual Analytics, the hospital can manage large volumes of data, produce understandable reports and share findings through mobile devices.

“Health care institutions and research centers have great potential locked in their data,” said Dan Cain, General Manager, SAS Health and Life Sciences. “Applying analytics and advanced visualization with SAS Visual Analytics helps Hospital La Fe to improve its management. For us, it’s an honor to participate in such a cutting-edge project to improve the health care of the people of Valencia.”