1. Magical thinking about ev-gen.
Rachel E. Sherman, M.D., M.P.H., and Robert M. Califf, M.D. of the US FDA have described what is needed to develop an evidence generation system – and must be playing a really long game. “The result? Researchers will be able to distill the data into actionable evidence that can ultimately guide clinical, regulatory, and personal decision-making about health and health care.” Recent posts are Part I: Laying the Foundation and Part II: Building Out a National System. Sherman and Califf say “There must be a common approach to how data is presented, reported and analyzed and strict methods for ensuring patient privacy and data security. Rules of engagement must be transparent and developed through a process that builds consensus across the relevant ecosystem and its stakeholders.” Examples of projects reflecting these concepts include: Sentinel Initiative (querying claims data to identify safety issues), PCORNet (leveraging EHR data in support of pragmatic clinical research), and NDES (the National Device Evaluation System).
2. It pays to play the long game with data.
Michael Carney shares great examples in So you want to build a data business? Play the long game. These include “Foursquare demonstrating, once again, that it’s capable of predicting public company earnings with an incredible degree of accuracy based on real world foot traffic data…. On April 12, two weeks in advance of the beleaguered restaurant chain’s quarterly earnings report, Foursquare CEO Jeff Glueck published a detailed blog post outlining a decline in foot traffic to Chipotle’s stores and predicting Q1 sales would be ‘Down Nearly 30%.’ Yesterday, the burrito brand reported a 29.7% decline in quarter over quarter earnings…. Kudos to the company for persisting in the face of public scrutiny and realizing the true potential of its location-based behavioral graph.”
3. Meet Jill Watson, AI TA.
Turns out, college students often submit 10,000 questions to their teaching assistants. Per class, per semester. So a Georgia Tech prof experimented with using IBM’s Watson Analytics AI engine to pretend to be a live TA – and pulled it off. Cool stories from The Verge and Wall Street Journal.
4. Burst of unsettling healthcare news.
– So now that we know more about the cost of our healthcare, evidence suggests price transparency doesn’t seem to cut our outpatient spending. Healthcare reform is hard.
– Recent findings indicate patient-centered medical homes aren’t cutting Medicare costs. Buzzkill via THCB.
– Ever been told to have surgery where they do the most procedures? Some data show high-volume surgeries aren’t so closely linked to better patient outcomes.
Posted by Tracy Allison Altman on 12-May-2016.
