Independence Blue Cross, through its Center for Health Care Innovation, and Drexel University are embarking on a new research collaboration aimed at improving the delivery of health care and controlling costs.
Researchers are currently evaluating a number of areas for study including:
- Identifying Independence members at risk for hospitalization and re-hospitalization, as well as identifying members who would benefit from Independence’s chronic disease outreach programs.
- Applying machine learning techniques to unstructured data, such as notes from members’ interactions with doctors and other health professionals, to predict future health problems or customer service issues.
- Evaluating health interventions that can reduce the number of avoidable emergency department visits.
- Improving the detection of fraudulent claims, predicting when fraud is likely to occur and developing strategies to help members protect their medical identity.
Though the specific research projects won’t be identified for a few months, they will “involve new ways to use data to improve health and lower costs,” explains Independence spokeswoman Ruth Stoolman.
“Each project will have a principal investigator designated from Drexel and a corresponding lead investigator from Independence,” she adds. “The analyses will take place at Independence and at Drexel (all appropriate HIPAA [patient privacy] protections are in place). Some projects may also involve outreach and intervention with members and/or providers. Those interventions may be done by Drexel or Independence depending on the nature of the project and the outreach.”
“We're already seeing some impressive early results from informatics projects we’ve designed, as well other research partnerships we’ve initiated, to improve our members’ health,” said Somesh Nigam, Independence’s senior vice president and chief informatics officer, in a statement. “We’re going to see tremendous growth in machine learning and predictive analytics over the next few years, and it’s very exciting for Independence to be at the center of that work.”
Independence and Drexel also teamed up in 2012 to create a business analytics certificate program for Independence associates through the Krall Center for Corporate and Executive Education in the university's LeBow College of Business. Now in its third year, the program focuses on developing a deeper understanding of how to make databased decisions and teaches analytic techniques for identifying opportunities to enhance health care quality and services.
Source: Ruth Stoolman, Independence Blue Cross
Writer: Elise Vider