UNCHC & Forecast Health Develop Analytics Models to Identify Patients at High Risk of Readmissions

DURHAM, N.C. - June 13, 2015 - PRLog -- UNC Health Care and Forecast Health announce the successful completion of the first phase of a collaboration designed to help patients receive better care. The collaboration has produced an analytical model that helps clinicians predict when patients are at high risk of readmission to a hospital so that care teams can proactively offer support to individual patients based on personal risks and needs.

“This is a great story of the power of collaboration,” said Jason Burke, Senior Advisor at the UNC Health Care and School of Medicine Center for Innovation. “By joining forces, we were able to assemble a very talented group of industry experts who worked through over 40 different advanced analytical models and literally hundreds of potential factors to develop a new technique for avoiding hospital readmissions. The new technique outperforms every other model we’ve tested.”

The Forecast Health team combined historical clinical and utilization data with data from the current hospital admission for over 66,000 patients. That data was analyzed with predictive analytics software to identify factors that influence a patient’s health risks or overall health outcomes.

“Our results offer both clinical and financial benefits for patients,” explains Michael Cousins, PhD, President and Chief Analytics Officer at Forecast Health. “When care providers are able to proactively address patient needs, patients enjoy better health. And when patients do not need to return to the hospital, lots of costs are avoided. That is good news for the hospital and the patient.”

Under the terms of the collaboration, Forecast Health will further develop and commercialize the predictive analytics so that patients at other hospitals can benefit from the insights produced by the collaboration.

About Forecast Health
Forecast Health provides actionable and affordable predictive analytics and planning tools to enable population health programs for health systems. They utilize “big data” tools and their knowledge of healthcare operations to help systems increase revenue, control costs, and improve patient outcomes. Forecast Health is headquartered in Durham, NC. To learn more about the organization, visit our website at https://forecasthealth.com or contact us at Hello@ForecastHealth.com.

About the UNC Health Care / School of Medicine Center for Innovation
Established by the UNC Health Care System (UNC HCS) and the UNC School of Medicine (UNC SOM), the Center for Innovation (“the Center”) initiates, evaluates and supports the adoption of disruptive, patient-centered innovations in the delivery and financing of health care. The Center strives to provide rapid assessment, coordinated facilitation, program management, partnership development and funding for innovation.