Data informs our decision making, hopefully leading us to better choices. But in the end, it is us humans who choose.
Continue readingThe Choice
Featured Articles
SARS-CoV-2 Vaccines Not an Easy Shot in the Arm
No country will be fully safe until all citizens are vaccinated. This is the only way to achieve a high enough level of heard immunity to halt the pandemic.
Continue readingWhat to Think About Once We Start Containment
Will Americans allow themselves to be tracked via their mobile phones, credit card transactions, and CCTV video to halt the pandemic? How much privacy will Americans give up to return to a semblance of normal?
Continue readingWe Need Data
Gut feelings and “I think” or “I believe” no longer carry weight. The regular use of data by decision makers will hopefully be one that helps prevent a crisis of this magnitude from occurring again.
Continue readingCOVID-19 Pandemic: Optimistic Heart and Worrying Head
With our focus on what is happening in New York, many are missing what is happening elsewhere.
Continue readingNot the Time to Ease Up
I hope that the general public, while rooting for the people of NYC, understand that their own fate depends upon them maintaining social distance, washing their hands, and obeying the advice of public officials.
Continue readingWhat Pop Health Needs to Learn from Consumer Marketing
American retailers understand their customers and use data to influence what they buy, what they pay, and when they return for more. With more than 68 percent of the U.S. economy driven by consumer spending, …
Continue readingWhy AI Needs a Reality Check
Visionary Elon Musk fears it. Astrophysicist Stephen Hawking worried about it. Microsoft’s Bill Gates embraces it. Science fiction writer Phillip K. Dick wrote about androids having the capacity to dream because of it. At HIMSS …
Continue readingHow Tinkering with the ACA Puts Health IT Investments at Risk
On February 27, 2017, President Trump said, ”Nobody knew healthcare could be so complicated.” Well, Mr. President it is complicated and yes, we all knew.
Continue readingWhy Reform Legislation Won’t Solve Healthcare’s Ills
To best understand the failures of the bill, it is important to understand its shifting of incentives that were modified by ACA.
Continue readingPSQH
When in Crisis Mode, Let Everyone Follow the Data
During normal times, managers often make decisions based on their knowledge and experience; analysis of data to varying degrees informs that decision-making process. Circumstances change at an easily manageable pace, errors in judgment can be corrected, and the impact of those poor choices is often insignificant. During a healthcare crisis, however, the cost of being wrong is exponential.
Continue readingFrom Snow to Achuff: Using Analytics to Drive Clinical Change
John Snow, the English physician whose work arguably helped to halt an 1854 London cholera epidemic, is considered one of the founders of modern epidemiology. Drawing on his knowledge of statistics, Snow decided to plot …
Continue readingEnterprise Analytics: Data, Insight, Process Change, Repeat
In 1966, Avedis Donabedian proposed a conceptual model for examining health services and evaluating quality of care. The Donabedian model includes three pillars: structure, process, and outcomes. As organizations strive to excel in healthcare’s world …
Continue readingDigitally Driven: Link Technology to Process Change
There are essentially two types of dashboards: point analytics dashboards and surveillance dashboards. Point analytics dashboards, sometimes described as ad-hoc analytics reports, focus on examining data to identify the potential cause of an unwanted outcome. …
Continue readingAI: Augmented Intelligence or Electric Sheep?
Visionary Elon Musk fears it. Astrophysicist Stephen Hawking worried about it. Microsoft’s Bill Gates embraces it. Science fiction writer Philip K. Dick wrote about androids having the capacity to dream because of it. At HIMSS 2019, everyone talked about it.
Continue readingBelieving is Seeing
Data collection and its use surrounds us. Our mobile phones trace where we live, work, buy our groceries, and visit friends. Today’s trip to some online shopping sites shows me ads for puppies (my children …
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