[{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/2018\/03\/advanced-analytics-healthcare-nxt\/#Article","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/2018\/03\/advanced-analytics-healthcare-nxt\/","headline":"Data Is Making Health Care Clairvoyant","name":"Data Is Making Health Care Clairvoyant","description":"Pamela Peele, PhD, wants to get patients out of emergency rooms. And she\u2019s relying on vast amounts of data and advanced analytics to do it. As chief analytics officer of both the UPMC Health Plan and UPMC Enterprises, Dr. Peele is blending her expertise in economics, game theory, and clinical health care to develop predictive […]","datePublished":"2018-03-01","dateModified":"2018-08-29","author":{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.upmc.com\/","name":"UPMC","url":"https:\/\/www.upmc.com\/","sameAs":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/upmc\/","parentOrganization":"UPMC"},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"UPMC HealthBeat","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/UPMC-HealthBeat-Logo.png","url":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/UPMC-HealthBeat-Logo.png","width":600,"height":60}},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/1.-Data-is-Making-Health-Care-Clairvoyant-1.jpg","url":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/1.-Data-is-Making-Health-Care-Clairvoyant-1.jpg","height":540,"width":1915},"url":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/2018\/03\/advanced-analytics-healthcare-nxt\/","about":["UPMC Next"],"wordCount":670,"keywords":["data in health care","innovation","tech in health care","UPMC"],"articleBody":"Pamela Peele, PhD, wants to get patients out of emergency rooms.And she\u2019s relying on vast amounts of data and advanced analytics to do it.As chief analytics officer of both the UPMC Health Plan and UPMC Enterprises, Dr. Peele is blending her expertise in economics, game theory, and clinical health care to develop predictive models that will prompt medical staff to intervene \u2013 proactively \u2013 with those patients who are most likely to require emergency room treatment.\u201cIf we can predict which patients have the highest probability of requiring service in an emergency room or urgent care clinic, we can reach out to help them before that happens,\u201d explains Dr. Peele, who early in her career spent 13 years as a neurodiagnostic lab technician.Using predictive analytics to identify at-risk patients is one of many projects UPMC has undertaken that make use of the enormous quantities of patient and consumer data at its disposal.The overarching goal? To completely transform the patient experience by leveraging Big Data.Treatment via TechnologyUPMC \u2013 a longtime trailblazer in electronic health records (EHR) implementation and data-driven technologies \u2013 is developing groundbreaking uses of big data, analytics, and IT to improve the health care experience for physicians, staff, and \u2013 especially \u2013 patients. With easier-than-ever access to medical data and resources, UPMC patients and doctors are enjoying new ways to communicate to treat illnesses.And those bold initiatives have garnered the attention of some of the world\u2019s leading technology companies. Another project underway is UPMC\u2019s $2B investment to build three digitally connected specialty hospitals that will offer next-generation treatments in patient-focused, technology-enhanced settings unique to health care.UPMC has entered into a strategic research partnership with Microsoft\u2019s Healthcare NExT initiative to develop these futuristic hospitals, which will incorporate the latest cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and research innovations. The plan is to \u201capply technology in ways that will transform what today is often a disjointed and needlessly complex (patient) experience,\u201d said Jeffrey A. Romoff, president and CEO of UPMC.Data\u2019s Key Role in Battling Chronic DiseasesAnother significant reason for UPMC\u2019s focus on data-driven approaches is the growing chronic disease crisis in the U.S. According to Diane Holder, executive vice president, UPMC, president of the UPMC Insurance Services Division, and president and CEO of UPMC Health Plan, about 75 percent of health care costs are driven by chronic disease.\u201cIf we could eliminate just three risk factors \u2013 poor diet, inactivity, and smoking \u2013 we could reduce heart disease and diabetes by 80 percent, and cancer by 40 percent,\u201d says Ms. Holder. \u201cAnd the answer is probably in your pocket \u2013 a smartphone.\u201dUPMC has implemented several mobile-based tools (and is testing several others) that are automatically triggered when clinical and claims data is loaded into the EHR system. Several smartphone apps are designed to prompt behavioral change, improve medication management, and encourage the use of convenient telemedicine visits.Odyssey, for example, is an app powered by content from the UPMC Lifestyle Improvement Programs. It presents information on stress management, weight loss, and smoking cessation in a light, user-friendly, and interactive fashion.Like the \u201cdigital hospitals\u201d project, many of these programs are introducing unconventional approaches to health care. One is a project that applies natural language processing to analyze hundreds of thousands of notes clinicians enter into patients\u2019 health records. Detailed analysis reveals that certain words found in clinical notes \u2013 such as \u201cmother\u201d or \u201cWW\u201d (for wheeled walker) \u2013 can help predict the likelihood of subsequent patient interactions. And, as noted earlier, they can prompt proactive outreach to patients.\u201cBy seeing how millions of pieces of information are related, we are learning things we would never have known in the past,\u201d Dr. Peele notes. \u201cData is making us clairvoyant.\u201dThese and numerous other data-oriented initiatives are designed with one result in mind: To produce better patient outcomes.\u201cWe want our Health Plan members, and all patients at our facilities, to spend as little time as possible consuming health care,\u201d adds Dr. Peele. \u201cAnd to be as healthy as they possibly can.\u201d"},{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"2018","item":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/2018\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"03","item":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/2018\/\/03\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Data Is Making Health Care Clairvoyant","item":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/2018\/03\/advanced-analytics-healthcare-nxt\/#breadcrumbitem"}]}]