HAC Healthcare Analyst Data Analysis & Interpretation 2

Question 1

A healthcare analyst observes that hospital readmission rates spike every January. Which analytical approach best determines if this is a seasonal pattern versus random variation?

Accepted Answer

Apply time-series decomposition to isolate seasonal components

Answer

Run a chi-square test on January vs. other months

Answer

Calculate the mean readmission rate and compare January to it

Answer

Use a scatter plot of readmissions over the 12 months

Question 2

When analyzing a dataset with a heavily right-skewed distribution of patient lengths of stay, which measure of central tendency best represents a 'typical' patient stay?

Accepted Answer

Median

Answer

Mean

Answer

Mode

Answer

Geometric mean

Question 3

A hospital wants to predict 30-day readmissions using age, comorbidity count, and discharge disposition. Which model type is most appropriate?

Accepted Answer

Logistic regression

Answer

Linear regression

Answer

K-means clustering

Answer

Principal component analysis

Question 4

An analyst finds a Pearson correlation of r = 0.85 between hospital staffing ratios and patient satisfaction scores. What is the most accurate interpretation?

Accepted Answer

There is a strong positive linear association between the two variables

Answer

Staffing ratios cause higher patient satisfaction

Answer

85% of the variation in satisfaction is explained by staffing

Answer

The relationship is statistically significant at p < 0.05

Question 5

A healthcare analyst is tasked with identifying patient subgroups with similar utilization patterns without predefined categories. Which technique is most suitable?

Accepted Answer

K-means clustering

Answer

Decision tree classification

Answer

Logistic regression

Answer

ANOVA

Question 6

In a clinical dataset, an analyst notices that 15% of BMI values are missing. The missing values appear to be concentrated among patients over age 80. This pattern is best described as:

Accepted Answer

Missing at random (MAR)

Answer

Missing completely at random (MCAR)

Answer

Missing not at random (MNAR)

Answer

Structurally missing

Question 7

A healthcare analyst compares average cost per discharge across five hospital departments using one-way ANOVA and finds F = 4.2, p = 0.003. What is the correct next step?

Accepted Answer

Perform post-hoc pairwise comparisons to identify which departments differ

Answer

Conclude all department means are different from each other

Answer

Re-run the analysis with a larger sample

Answer

Accept the null hypothesis because F > 1