May 30, 2013, 8:00 AM, Posted by
Paul Tarini
From: Paul Tarini
To: Christine Nieves, Beth Toner and Thomas Goetz
Date: May 30, 2013
I'm looking forward to my third Datapalooza conference next week. In many ways, data is the new frontier in helping people lead healthier lives and improving the quality and efficiency of care. I enjoy Datapalooza because it helps us see the current edge of this new frontier—from what data are available and what data people are trying to access, to new ideas about how people are using the data, whether it's for policy or for products and services.
View Full Post
May 29, 2013, 8:00 AM, Posted by
Steve Downs, Lori Melichar
Think about it for a moment. When you consider what you "know" about health, where does that knowledge come from? While we all have our sources—doctors, friends, news articles—our knowledge at its core is derived from research. And that research is built on a foundation of data.
Data about health typically come from several types of sources: clinical data, gleaned from electronic health records or chart pulls, and billing and claims data, which are byproducts of the health care process; and public health surveillance data, which are specialized collections about particular topics or populations. All of these sources can then be supplemented, at a considerable cost, by original data collection efforts specific to a particular study.
These different types of data are like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle; when assembled, they create a more complete picture of health.
But a piece of the puzzle is missing. Or it has been up till now.
View Full Post
May 16, 2013, 8:00 AM, Posted by
Steve Downs
New York State Commissioner of Health Nirav Shah is the Billy Beane of health care.
Let me explain.
Billy Beane—the general manager and minority owner of the Oakland Athletics—and made famous in the book Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game by Michael Lewis, was made even more famous when Brad Pitt portrayed him in the movie adaptation. (Generally speaking, having Brad Pitt portray you is a good way to get famous.)
For those who aren’t familiar, Moneyball is about how, under Beane’s unconventional leadership, “the Oakland Athletics achieved an amazing winning streak while having the smallest player payroll in Major League Baseball. (Short answer: creative use of data.)” (Thank you, New York Times.)
View Full Post
May 15, 2013, 2:15 PM, Posted by
Brian C. Quinn
One of the best things about our jobs at Pioneer is that we get to have conversations with interesting people doing interesting things. As we network with these visionary thinkers, we want to share some of the great stuff we’re learning and hearing with you—to bring value to the work you’re doing. That’s why I’m pleased to introduce What's Next Health: Conversations with Pioneers, a new series here at RWJF that explores the future of health and health care, asks the big questions, and looks to the cutting-edge for solutions.
View Full Post
Mar 14, 2013, 2:00 PM, Posted by
Nancy Barrand
When the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation launched the Pioneer Portfolio, my colleagues and I asked ourselves what fields might produce the greatest potential game-changers for health and health care. Genomics was at the top of the list. The human genome had been mapped and fantastic discoveries had begun to blossom, but a true era of personalized medicine still seemed too far off.
So we set out to do what Pioneer does best. We explored and learned. We networked. We asked a lot of questions. And we began to hunt down ideas.
On March 12, PBS NewsHour did a feature story on one of the big ideas that came out of that process: the world’s largest, deepest, and most diverse “biobank.” It presented a good opportunity to share the backstory.
View Full Post
