Now that DC has finally passed through winter with our robust 4 inches of snow and temperature in the low 20s, it is time to think about real spring activities. The Leaders Conference (March 17, 2015) is the next big item on our agenda and we are excited about our keynote speaker Dr. Jessee Tucker and our theme of Big Data/Data Analytics. We are excited about our three presenters and the three reactors who will help us all identify and translate the topics to their relevance for health administration education.
The theme of Big Data/Data Analytics is not really new to healthcare. I believe that we all need to expand our thinking regarding the potential applications and relevance of these developments to the future of our educational efforts. Two examples or recent applications drove the importance of thinking about Big Data/Data Analytics home for me. First, there was a TED talk by Amy Webb (scroll to see below) that was rebroadcast as part of NPR’s TED radio hour about using sophisticated algorithms to “solve” the eternal dating/matchmaking struggle. Before you say this is not related to healthcare, remember that there is research indicating that those with partners (married or not) tend to live longer and happier lives. It turns out there is a robust market for men and women seeking appropriate partners. Many of them have neither the time nor the expertise to sift through the many participants. Amy does a hilarious decomposition for her home of Philadelphia that has 1.5M people but when she parses that down there are likely 35 potential matches for her. Finding that “needle” in the haystack, out of 1.5M, demands a data analytic solution. She in fact developed a complex algorithm and is now married with a child. While funny and worth a listen, this is this just one application that a few years ago would be considered outside of the box.
More directly relevant to healthcare involves substantial efforts with “individualized medicine.” Much has been written about this but Futurescan 2015 (Society for Healthcare Strategy & Market Development, 2015) contains an insightful summary article by Dr. Eric Topol, a leading researcher and practitioner in this field. Dr. Topol presents a paradigm containing ten integrated layers of information on the way to digitizing the human body, from Phenome to Exposome. It is interesting that while many of the applications of these digitization levels are highly speculative, some are already becoming of value. Genomic testing as one of the layers for example, has been successful in identifying definitive therapy for patients suffering from serious problems with unknown diagnosis. This improved diagnosis and treatment benefits the patient, naturally, but also avoids having the patient make costly visits to numerous medical centers in search of a solution. Similarly, gene sequencing has proven useful in treating some cancers by mapping the tumor’s “genome and native DNA.” Practitioners can thus implement a more precise approach to therapy. I admit that I only half understand the science presented in this paper but one statistic stood out for me. The cost of performing a human-sized genome has fallen from $29 M in 2004 to about $2000 in 2012 according to Topol. A decade ago, the technology was essentially out of reach financially without substantial government or private support as a research enterprise. It is now a feasible option for those with modest means and a potential insurable event. The price will likely continue to drop. Additional and unforeseen potential benefits from this technology were totally beyond any reasonable cost/benefit threshold a decade ago is now in the realm of feasible.
These two of potentially hundreds of examples of the vast and unknown potential that access to Big Data and the ability to conduct meaningful analytics with these data indicate to me they should be on our radar as well. Once the technologies become cheaper and more readily available, the leaders we are currently training will be tasked with using the information for clinical, social and administrative applications. They must be informed and prepared. To help us start thinking about this potential, we have asked our keynote speaker to address implications of Big Data and Data Analytics from a leadership perspective. We also have three individuals who will present perspectives on Big Data and Data Analytics from their diverse professional positions. Finally, we asked three reactors to help us translate the implications of these perspectives.
Herb Smaltz, President and CEO, CIO Consult, will present his perspective on developing and leading a firm designed to assist CIOs manage in a complex and data driven world. His history includes years as a CIO and founder of a data analytics firm. His reactor is Margaret Schulte, CEO of CAHME. Loren Petit, Vice President, Market Research, HIMSS Analytics, will approach big data and data analytics from the perspective of a company that supplies data and analytical support to healthcare providers, healthcare IT companies, consultants and governments. HIMSS Analytics seeks to harness the value of collective data systems for quality and process improvement. His reactor will be Leah Vriesman, Program Director, UCLA. Finally, Nir Menachemi, Chair, Indiana University Fairbanks School of Public Health, has used Yahoo search query data to derive some interesting implications of the population’s response to major public health events. His reactor is Leigh Cellucci, Program Director, East Carolina University. Please join us for an informative session in March.