Case Study: NYC Health + Hospitals achieves lifesaving real-time data-driven COVID-19 surge response with Tableau Software

NYC H+H draws on data fluency to make lifesaving decisions during the New York City COVID-19 surge

NYC Health + Hospitals, the largest municipal healthcare system in the U.S., faced one of the earliest and most severe COVID-19 surges, putting more than 70 facilities and over one million annual patients at risk. To coordinate a systemwide emergency response, leadership assembled a “tiger team” of operations, clinical, and technical experts who needed real-time, actionable data to guide life-or-death decisions.

NYC H+H rapidly built an emergency management landing page and a suite of linked Tableau dashboards—including Patient Explorer, Testing, Beds, and ICU/forecasting views—that provided up‑to‑the‑minute census, capacity, and clinical insights with controlled access. These visualizations empowered leadership and frontline clinicians to make fast, data-driven operational choices during the surge, helping allocate resources, inform briefings, and ultimately support lifesaving care while reinforcing the system’s population health mission.

NYC Health + Hospitals

Gabriel M Cohen

Associate Hospital Epidemiologist And Infectious Disease Physician