Healthcare Analytics

Data and analytics have always been central to understanding diseases, delivering healthcare and improving patient outcomes. As far back as the 1800’s, Florence Nightingale used data and analytics to reduce the number of deaths of British soldiers in the Crimean War by two-thirds, and John Snow used data and analytics to contain the outbreak of cholera in London. Both used data visualization to communicate their findings and drive change. Today, we have a much deeper understanding of diseases and many more treatment options available. However, the adoption of advanced analytics in healthcare has not kept pace with adoption in other industry sectors, such as financial services and retail. One thing that has not changed since the days of Florence Nightingale and John Snow is the importance of clearly communicating data-driven insights for maximum impact. These lessons are evident in our current challenges with COVID, especially relating to testing, vaccination and individual behaviors. The barriers in the contemporary healthcare environment are high because the outcomes are critical, there are multiple stakeholders, and the system is siloed with discrete, and sometimes competing, needs and expectations. Healthcare is inherently human-centered. Therapeutic interventions cannot improve lives unless healthcare providers and patients adopt them. As with all applications of analytics, providing insights that are understandable and actionable is critical.

In Healthcare Analytics, students will gain a strategic understanding of the healthcare industry, knowledge of how different stakeholder groups use data and analytics to inform scientific, clinical and operational decisions, and how state of the art analytics are transforming every aspect of healthcare from how drugs are discovered and developed to how population and individual health outcomes are optimized. Students will learn how to communicate healthcare data and analyses to drive the adoption of insights by healthcare providers and patients.

Healthcare Analytics is an elective that is intended for students who are interested in learning about healthcare and analytics and students who are interested in pursuing a career using analytics in the healthcare industry sector or in healthcare consulting. This full semester course will be offered online, and is open to APAN students who have successfully completed Applied Analytics in an Organizational Context (APAN PS5100), Storytelling with Data (APAN PS5800), Strategy and Analytics (APAN