Autism center uses analytics to improve treatment

The Center for Autism and Related Disorders (CARD) is creating dashboards and interactive reports for its more than 100 clinics nationwide. CARD has deployed WebFOCUS Business User Edition from Information Builders to create a new analytics environment to enable its operations staff to be more efficient.

Senior managers at the center implemented the solution to streamline a range of analytics activities. For example, a business analyst can create a dashboard and nearly a dozen alert-driven InfoApps, which notify therapists and administrators of key developments in their cases. Therapists at the clinics conduct tens of thousands of sessions per month, which yield a huge amount of data.

Alva Powell, CTO of the Center for Autism and Related Disorders, says, “Now we can much more easily process and visualize our data. The speed with which we got WebFOCUS up and running was amazing. It was at least 10 times faster than any similar tool we have used—partly because it performs lots of pre-data analyses, which is a big time-saver. Now, we can more accurately track the treatment hours of each child. The solution will also allow us to share current information with clinical supervisors, operation managers and schedulers.” 

The new analytics environment enables non-technical users to explore data via charts, graphs and reports, according to Information Builders. With so many therapists and patients, the organization is said to benefit from even small adjustments. For example, WebFOCUS can map patients to particular regions so CARD can make sure they are matched with the right therapists. That minimizes the number of hours that therapists have to spend in transit between patient visits. Saving even one minute every hour adds up to many more hours of treatment time for patients.

CARD is one of the largest organizations using applied behavior analysis (ABA) in the treatment of autism spectrum disorder. Gerald Cohen, president and CEO of Information Builders, says, “As a leader in the ASD community, CARD is widely known for its scientific approach to understanding the unique needs of each patient. Its data-driven mindset has helped the center achieve remarkable success with ABA therapy. We are pleased to supply technology that leads to better treatments—and better outcomes—for children with autism.”