Today’s guest is Greg Townsend, the Vice President of Business Intelligence and Analytics at Commonwealth Care Alliance in Boston. Greg’s path to leadership in health analytics traces the coming of age of analytics in health care. Greg’s educational background began in public health working with disease management and health promotion, which led him to roles in risk management and quality improvement, two fields that rely heavily on data. These early roles helped him develop the skill set that he uses today to support the Commonwealth Care Alliance’s mission of providing health care to some of Massachusetts’ most needy citizens. The podcast concludes with Greg’s thoughts on leadership and his advice to people who are interested in entering the field of health analytics. An abridged version of the interview that focuses only on Greg’s work at Commonwealth Care Alliance is also available.
Links to the Podcast:
Anchor:
Unabridged: https://anchor.fm/healthleaderforge/episodes/Greg-Townsend--VP-of-Business-Intelligence-and-Analytics--Commonwealth-Care-Alliance-egra63
iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/greg-townsend-vp-of-business-intelligence-and/id981989377?i=1000354725112
Podcast Outline:
Time
|
Topic
|
0:01:31
|
Educational background, college
internships
|
0:03:11
|
Moving to North Carolina after college,
initial jobs
|
0:05:12
|
Preventive health work at Blue Cross
Blue Shield of North Carolina
|
0:07:00
|
Defining “disease management” and its
history
|
0:08:28
|
Lessons learned from first jobs
|
0:10:22
|
Quality Improvement work at Harvard
Pilgrim
|
0:13:37
|
Performance Improvement work at Elliot
Health System
|
0:15:20
|
The role of the Joint Commission in accreditation
|
0:17:25
|
Other responsibilities at Elliot Health
System
|
0:20:26
|
Leadership lessons learned at Elliot
|
0:24:52
|
Performance Improvement/Evaluation work
at Tufts New England Medical Center
|
0:29:49
|
The importance and process of
prioritizing
|
0:31:19
|
Quality Management work at Health
Dialogue Analytics Solutions
|
0:34:30
|
“Unwarranted variation” in health care
|
0:36:07
|
Work in health analytics prior to HDAS
|
0:37:55
|
Tools used in health analytics
|
0:38:56
|
How prior work experiences contributed
to knowledge in health analytics
|
0:39:52
|
Clinical partnerships work at Accretive
Health and work on reimbursable codes with providers and CMS
|
0:45:04
|
Business Intelligence work at
Commonwealth Care Alliance
|
0:47:28
|
Working with dually eligible patients (Medicare
& Medicaid) and the importance of primary care
|
0:50:48
|
Assembling a primary care team through
CCA
|
0:52:08
|
Work with capitated payments in
healthcare
|
0:54:15
|
Lack of access to care for Medicare and
Medicaid patients, the importance of home health care
|
0:56:06
|
Integration of specialty and inpatient
care into capitated payments
|
0:56:41
|
Teamwork in healthcare and home health
evaluations
|
0:59:17
|
Greg’s role, responsibilities at CCA
|
1:00:43
|
Problems solved using health analytics
|
1:02:28
|
Products created using health analytics
|
1:04:40
|
Difference between and use of
“predictive” and “prescriptive” analytics
|
1:06:52
|
Evolution of analytics and its
integration into health decision making
|
1:08:15
|
Challenges faced in the implementation
of health analytics
|
1:10:11
|
The future of health analytics and its
integration into health care
|
1:11:40
|
Personal leadership philosophy
|
1:13:28
|
Personal mentors in leadership
|
1:15:21
|
What to look for when hiring leaders
|
1:16:36
|
The role of a good mentor
|
1:18:17
|
Who looks to you as a mentor?
|
1:19:36
|
Advice for those interested in health
analytics
|
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Thanks to Sameer Panasar for production assistance.
