How Data Science Solves Healthcare Problems

Damian MingleChief Data Scientist

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OverviewThe Importance of Data Science

• As healthcare begins to dream about predictive modeling (the holy grail of population health management), data scientists will become part of a comprehensive data and analytics strategy for health systems and payers as we move to value-based care.

• Healthcare (especially advanced research organizations) is getting into the crowdsourcing game to solve complex problems at an affordable price point.

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What do Data Scientists do for fun?Answer: They solve incredible tough problems (not your daily newspaper’s Sudoku puzzle).• Data Scientists typically use a data puzzle to hone their skills, applying

what they know and testing what they do not.

• As part of the WPC Healthcare process, foundational steps are taken to initiate descriptive and exploratory data analysis as a baseline with the goal of normalizing the data and identifying the outliers. From there, inferential analysis is used to create complete data sets.

• Not surprisingly, healthcare data are messy compared to other industries due to its status as a comparative juvenile requiring a level of sophistication to drive actionable insights. Addressing the “missingness” of the data is critical in moving forward. Bridging gaps in understanding is key to finding answers.

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Summary

Moving Forward• In order to create meaningful change and

improvement, predictive analytics must move into something we call the “mechanistic phase.” That’s the successful implementation of what’s been discovered so that when action is taking place, the outcomes are expected.

• It is not enough to just solve problem; it is important to have things be repeatable for others to improve on as well.

So here’s the question: • Do you think health care should open up more of its data, so others can assist

in problem solving?• What sort of health care problem would you like to see solved next?

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Questions? Connect Us!

Damian Mingle

@DamianMingleLinkedIn: Damian R Minglewww.DamianMingle.com

WPC Healthcare

@WPChealthcareLinkedin: WPC Healthcarewww.WPCHealthcare.com