MIT Sloan to host conference on leveraging analytics for a proactive health system

Event will focus on using technology innovations to benefit all participants

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Nov. 29, 2018––The transition of health systems from fee-for-service to value-based payments requires major redesign. Future systems must transform to be proactive in managing the health of populations and still meet outcome and sustainable economic goals. Technology innovations could drive a redesigned health system that benefits all participants. A thought leader on this topic, the Initiative for Health Systems Innovation (HSI) at the MIT Sloan School of Management will host the Designing for Health: Leveraging Analytics for a Proactive Health System Conference on Thurs. Dec. 6, 2018 for practitioners, government and industry leaders, and members of the MIT community.

“This conference is an opportunity to focus the distinctive competencies of MIT Sloan on critically important issues in the healthcare space. MIT Sloan and HSI bring an expertise on analytics and systems thinking that can have a long-term sustainable impact on the quality of care and health status of individuals and populations,” says Ronald Williams, who is the former chairman and CEO of Aetna Inc. as well as an MIT Sloan alumnus and chair of the HSI Advisory board.

“The discussions at this event will shed light on models that can enhance and transform the healthcare system into one that creates more value, is sustainable, and produces better outcomes in a more cost-effective way,” adds Williams.

Anne Quaadgras, director of HSI and senior lecturer at MIT Sloan, says, “The existing healthcare system is disconnected and reactive. It won’t be fixed by individuals, but rather multiple teams of people representing different disciplines. As a leader in thought and action, MIT Sloan is well positioned to bring people together to think about healthcare as a system and discuss new ways to approach this problem, particularly using data and analytics.”

While experts recognize that factors like housing, nutrition and pollution significantly affect the quality of health, it is less clear how to scientifically predict and measure which interventions would lead to better health outcomes. This conference will begin to address:

• how to better quantify effects of social determinants of health on outcomes and costs;
• how analytics, technology, workforce and process innovations apply to designing and assessing proactive interventions in health systems;
• policies needed to enable proactive systemic interventions with analytics-based evidence; and
• how ecosystem collaboration can accelerate innovation towards a proactive health system.

“The idea that we might want to prescribe fresh, healthy foods instead of insulin for food-insecure diabetics makes intuitive sense, but it requires more rigorous evidence of health improvements before wider adoption is possible. This is an example where MIT can add value to the ongoing healthcare transformation: applying healthcare analytics to generate rigorous evidence for what works and what doesn’t in healthcare delivery,” notes Joseph Doyle, faculty director of HSI and Professor of Applied Economics at MIT Sloan.

Keynote speakers at the event include Dr. Howard Zucker, commissioner of the New York State Department of Health, and Dr. Karen Smith, director of the California Department of Public Health.

Panelists represent academic institutions, healthcare systems and providers, and government organizations. They will address topics like food-as-medicine programs, precision health, collaborative models for care transformation, and food system interventions to curb chronic illness and promote health.

“We want participants at the conference to be excited about these issues and connect with each other. The answers to a problem may not be clear yet, but our goal is for attendees to think differently about the possibilities for creating a better system,” says Quaadgras.

The event is open to the public, but registration is required. Click here for more information and to register for the event.

About MIT Sloan's Initiative for Health Systems Innovation (HSI)

MIT Sloan’s Initiative for Health Systems Innovation (HSI) brings a unique systems focus and unparalleled management research expertise to the challenge of health system design, innovation and transformation. Its interdisciplinary approaches bridge data and analytics, technology and innovation, organization design and operations, and finance and economics. HSI seeks to identify practical solutions with visible impact.

About MIT Sloan School of Management

The MIT Sloan School of Management is where smart, independent leaders come together to solve problems, create new organizations, and improve the world. Learn more at mitsloan.mit.edu.