Analytics for a Healthier World

Healthcare analytics is poised to revolutionize quality of care, improve patient outcomes, and streamline operations.

Advanced analytics has created an evolutionary leap in healthcare management, employing tech tools such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to sift through massive amounts of complex data and produce the clearest, most effective solutions, not only improving the quality of care but also helping to reduce costs.

Healthcare analytics is in the process of streamlining the field on multiple levels, from more accurate diagnoses to better treatments — and it has already played a key role in fast-tracking development of the highly effective COVID vaccines.

The primary goal is to accelerate transformation to more patient-centered care, and that requires delivering complete and secure individual medical records, ideally stored in a single electronic file spanning from birth to death, said Gerhard Pilcher, Healthcare Analytics specialized studies program instructor. It forms an essential basis for interpreting the best decisions without bias.

“Doctors tend to suffer from recency bias in their diagnosis,” he said. “For example, a doctor might see 20 patients in a row who have the flu, and when the next one comes in with similar symptoms, the doctor assumes it’s the same. So, they might miss an early case of Hodgkin’s or another disease. But healthcare analytics uses AI algorithms that can support but not replace providers by considering many more complex possibilities without bias. AI algorithms can also protect against potentially deadly drug interactions. But both use cases require a complete view of a patient’s medical history.”

The healthcare industry has been gradually transitioning to electronic record-keeping, “with emerging standards in how that information is exchanged,” said Pilcher, a noted author and analytics expert. “The best-case scenario is for each patient to have complete control over their own digital records and be able to share them appropriately with providers — even carry them around like a driver’s license.”

Blockchain technology is especially well-suited for supporting this capability, he points out. Instead of visiting each healthcare provider and physically collecting separate medical records, blockchain would allow individuals to collect and keep all records securely in electronic form, giving them ownership of their medical history.

“Blockchain creates a decentralized electronic ledger of sorts,” Pilcher said. “Having all of your lifetime medical history in one digital file would make it much easier to share, especially for patients who aren’t part of a network like Kaiser. It would make it especially easy for pharmacists to instantly see which medications you’re taking, with analytics checking for potentially harmful drug interactions.”

Saving lives and managing cost

An array of advanced devices are leveraging AI for better patient outcomes — improving quality of care while lowering costs. Robotic-assisted surgery has allowed surgeons to operate with extreme precision for years now, and AI can find minute anomalies in radiological images that human eyes might miss, Pilcher emphasizes.

“AI is being used in genomic modeling for earlier detection of chronic and acute disease. It’s also used in targeted, optimized proton radiation therapy, telemedicine, and triage of patient readmission risk. There is an evolutionary path to improving patient outcomes that goes together with managing cost of delivery.”

Analytics allows telemedicine companies such as Teladoc Health and MDLive to deliver effective, quality care to even the most remote regions. With the help of Zoom and other communication tools, physicians can see and talk with patients, even perform virtual exams and come up with preliminary diagnoses.

AI and analytics also can be extremely impactful in large-scale medical studies, processing massive amounts of raw data to enhance the decision-making processes. The goal — and the challenge — is to eliminate or reduce “spurious findings” that result from enormous data sets and a rush to publish studies, Pilcher warned.

“The pressure to publish results coupled with much greater volumes of data have contributed to a crisis in research findings that cannot be independently replicated. The larger the factors considered, the more likely there are to be spurious findings. If not rigorously tested, these spurious findings are frequently reported as real findings only to the overturned later.”

He points to wildly conflicting conclusions reached by cherry-picking data. “How many times has it been reported that red wine is good for you, and then another study says red wine is bad for you? Same with coffee, eggs, and butter to name a few. The key is to bring rigorous and independent validation into the research realm.”

Charting healthcare’s future

This fast-evolving field is poised for continued growth, opening a world of opportunities for qualified candidates. And the Healthcare Analytics program can put professionals on a fast track to success. It provides a perfect entry point for a range of healthcare and IT professionals looking to master the research and analytic skills needed to collect, organize, and interpret data to make the most effective decisions in the increasingly complex healthcare industry.

Students gain a strong background in health informatics and advanced analytics, along with the latest science on precision medicine and disease prevention based on genetic profiles. Instructors also address security and privacy issues, along with population health management and data governance.

A range of career opportunities are available for healthcare executives and administrators, physicians, and consultants — really, anyone in the medical or data analytics fields. More than 400,000 job openings are available, with a 19% growth projected for these occupations through 2029. Median annual salary is in the $100,000 range, with experienced analysts earning more than $130,000 (Emsi Burning Glass – economicmodeling.com)

“Career opportunities in this field are growing faster than the qualified candidates available,” Pilcher said. “This creates a great market for people entering or already in the field, with lots of choices and good compensation, whether you start from a background of data analytics or with experience in the healthcare industry. There’s a unique career path for each person.”

Learn more about the Healthcare Analytics Specialized Studies Program.