Spotlight: How Kate Pavlovich is using data to improve care

Health Data Management recently announced the honorees in its program to recognize the Most Powerful Women in Healthcare IT. All will be recognized at our event May 12 in Boston. In leading up to that event, HDM editors are highlighting some of the honorees—today, we feature Kate Pavlovich, who is director of strategy and data analytics at New York-Presbyterian Hospital. There, she is responsible for designing policies and processes around data management.

Name: Kate Pavlovich

Current Title: Director of Strategy & Data Analytics

Organization: New York-Presbyterian Hospital (NYP)

Years in HIT: 3

Previous Responsibilities:

• Process Improvement Manager in the Division of Quality & Patient Safety, NYP, 2009-2013
• Clinical Research Coordinator, Obesity & Diabetes, Columbia University Medical Center, 2005-2009
• Intern, Sexual and Reproductive Health education, United Nations, 2008
• Biology instructor/community development, Students Partnership Worldwide (Tanzania), 2004

Current Job Responsibilities:
Working within an IT organization of 732 FTEs who service six campuses (three regional hospitals and three physician organizations), Pavlovich is responsible for creating NYP’s data governance infrastructure, which includes oversight and accountability for designing policies and processes around data management, developing dashboard and reporting tools for strategic initiatives, and advancing the hospital’s analytic competencies as well as managing activities related to NYP’s tri-institutional data sharing agreement. She also partners with senior management to formulate new strategies for the hospital in response to federal, local and industry trends.

Primary Achievements:

• The development of a Data Governance (DG) Suite and associated NYP Data Dictionary and Location Mapping efforts.
• Directed the redesign, implementation of NYP's "Executive Portal," the central repository of key performance indicators, dashboards, etc.
• Managed development of the organization's first homegrown location management application.
• Adapted and improved the process, prioritization algorithm and all other associated infrastructure for data & report requests as part of our tri-institutional data sharing agreement.
• Featured presenter: “Leveraging Data Governance on the Path to Useful Analytics,” Value-based Care Optimization Forum (May 2016); “Development & Implementation of a Scalable, Formalized Governance Structure at a large AMC,” Data Governance Winter Conference (December 2015), and “Walking Before You Run: Operationalizing a Multi-institutional Data Sharing Program,” Healthcare Analytics Symposium (July 2015).
• Select Publications: “Evaluation of a Data Sharing Workflow for Clinically Affiliated Institutions” Joint Summits on Translational Science Proceedings (AMIA) (March 2016)

Impact on HIT:
Ahead of her development of NYP’s Data Governance (DG) Suite and associated NYP Data Dictionary and Location Mapping efforts, Pavlovich recognized the necessity to fulfill an acute need by the organization to document, standardize and centralize information about its data assets. The result is an online website accessible to the entire organization that houses information on commonly-used terms and metrics (derived from a definitional template that includes elements such as the reason for tracking that individual metric, its formula and the contact information of its data steward and owner). The website also includes organizational naming conventions, data flows, and up-to-date and historical inpatient unit locations and the types of patients cared for respective to location.

A work in progress, Pavlovich reports that these resources were created with little to no investment beyond speaking with colleagues internal and external to the organization, a collaborative set of workgroups within the hospital, and a motivated member of her staff who learned MS Sharepoint to create the site itself.

With the goal of helping advance NYP to a data-driven organization, Pavlovich’s team is now focused on how to socialize its use within the broader hospital community, taking advantage of early wins as well as business and IT approval to fuel the program forward.

Pavlovich also directed the redesign and implementation of NYP's "Executive Portal," the central repository of key performance indicators, dashboards, etc., citing a doubling of usership and views within first month of go-live.

IN HER OWN WORDS:
Management Philosophy:
“In my very short and limited career, I have noticed that often times it’s not a new technology that we need in order to make a worthwhile impact but just listening, communicating and therefore recognizing we’re all trying to row in the same direction. I think the work on [NYP’s Data Governance Suite] is a lovely example of that.”

Leadership Style:
“I think it depends on the circumstance but by and large I believe I’m largely collaborative and perseverant, a.k.a. democratic. I am less interested in being out in front and leading the charge than working behind the scenes to make connections between ideas/people and tap wisdom of thought leaders from various departments and industries in order to work through seemingly intractable barriers and accomplish goals. Nothing makes me more satisfied than having a white-boarding or brainstorming session and figuring out a connection that drives a whole new way of thought. I also notice I have been sought after for my mentorship which suggests to me it’s a key component of my leadership style.”