THCB congratulates (FD: content partner and corporate supporter) HealthCatalyst in the wake of last week’s sold out Healthcare Analytics Summit (HAS15) in Salt Lake City.
The Utah-based startup widely-rumored to be headed for the Hot IPO List drew a crowd of over a thousand attendees, including vendors, clients, c-suite healthcare types, data geeks and industry observers.
If you want to wrap your brain around what sets Health Catalyst apart from the growing number of pretenders in the red-hot analytics space, you had only to look at the jaw-droppingly impressive client list: Partners Health Care, Stanford Health System, Kaiser Permanente Colorado, Texas Children’s, Allina Health, and many, many more.
Health Catalyst CEO Dan Burton
CEO Dan Burton and co-founders Tom Burton, Steven Barlow and their leadership team are betting the national move to value-based care and accountable care organizations (acos) will translate into increasing demand for help implementing data-driven population health initiatives. From the signs last week in Salt Lake City and the buzz THCBist is hearing through the grapevine, they are on to something.
Big PopHealth
Arguably, the week’s biggest news was the announcement of a strategic partnership between HealthCatalyst and Partners Healthcare, the Massachusetts system formed by Mass General and Brigham and Women’s in 1994. The two organizations announced a joint Partners-Health Catalyst Center for Excellence in Population Health.
The $30 million deal sees Partners committing to using Health Catalyst technology, gives the startup access to the groundbreaking population health teams at Mass General and the Brigham. Partners will also take a broader equity stake in Health Catalyst, building on 2013’s initial investment. More on the deal here.
Creativity Inc.
The star-studded lineup at the three day event included a keynote by Walt Disney Animation Studios president and Pixar co-founder Ed Catmull, the author of “Creativity Inc” who gave a keynote on leadership and creativity (scored tops among the presentations using a clever app designed to showcase the zero-to-sixty analytical power of HealthCatalyst’s technology). Bestselling business author Jim Collins, “From Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don’t”, “Great By Choice“ etcetera etcetra etcetera. (Really, what self-respecting business meeting would be complete without Jim?) and general manager Daryl Morey of the National Basketball Association’s Houston Rockets, an outsider with no professional management experience who used analytics to build a winning team.
A Brief History of Value-Based Care
And that was BEFORE the audience plonked down in its seats to watch a 22 minute documentary on the emerging science of value-based care, including extended coverage of the work with Harvard Business School’s Michael Porter and Elizabeth Teisberg and a long list of international experts who talked about the way their organizations use value-based approaches. Stay tuned for your all access guest pass via THCB studios. If you want to be notified, you can sign up for THCB’s handy e-mail updates here.
Data Governance in Healthcare
Health Catalyst SVP Dale Sanders (See related THCB post: “Data Governance Needs a Henry Kissinger”) led a panel on the cultural challenges facing healthcare organizations as they contemplate quality improvement programs, noting that data governance projects require leaders with the ability to unify divided stakeholders and bring reluctant participants to the table.
On the subject of bringing people to tables, see also Health Catalyst advisor John Haughom’s post “Why Doctors Quit (And What to do About It)”
How Allina Uses Analytics to Improve Outcomes
Allina Chief Medical Officer Timothy Sielaff talked about how the integrated health system is enjoying remarkable success using innovative tactics like inviting patients to sit in on planning meetings — an idea that was initially rejected by executives and unhappy doctors when it was proposed — but one that has helped Allina deliver more patient-centric care by literally giving patients a seat at the table.
Sielaff told a rapt audience that a company’s analytics journey typically involves the familiar five stages of grief. 1. Denial 2. Anger 3. Bargaining. 4. Depression and 5. Acceptance.
Five Months to Quality Improvement: The Stanford Operating System (SOS)
Stanford’s David Larson gave a tour of the Stanford Health System’s remarkable five month drive for measurable quality improvement, showing off the vaunted Stanford Operating System (SOS), a blend of lean principles and innovative management tactics.
Larson explained how Stanford built a winning program achieving measurable success in only months. Using the Stanford Operating System and a project based approach to quality improvement, management was able to improve the percentage of patients with adequate clinical histories from a mean of 16% to a mean of 94%. The percentage of patients waiting 15 minutes or less for inpatient transfer rose from 74% to a sustained 97%.
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