Articles - PCCI

How PCCI’s Innovative Community Vulnerability Compass Offers the Most Effective Way to Understand Our Community’s Health and Root Causes

How PCCI’s Innovative Community Vulnerability Compass Offers the Most Effective Way to Understand Our Community’s Health and Root Causes

Yolande Pengetnze, MD, MS, Senior Vice President, Clinical Leadership, PCCI

If you are leading efforts to improve and understand public health in your community, we’ve researched and validated that PCCI’s Community Vulnerability Compass (CVC) offers an improvement in advanced insights and performance compared to existing tools that measure community socioeconomic conditions in our neighborhoods. Although getting here took a lot of innovation and perseverance, through a recent publication, we are now able to share what factors differentiate the CVC and why it offers the gold-standard of social determinants of health (SDOH) measurement.

In research published in JAMIA Open, through Oxford University Press’ platform, we detailed how the CVC can help lead the way in measuring community SDOH, while also offering deeper, hyper-localized insights unavailable anywhere else.

Access the full research paper at: https://doi.org/10.1093/jamiaopen/ooaf059

CVC provides a unique methodology embedded into an interactive dashboard that helps stakeholders—including community-based organizations (CBOs), safety-net hospitals, health systems, philanthropic organizations, governmental agencies, universities, and Managed Care Organizations (MCOs)—to make data-driven decisions that enhance health outcomes and drive equity in service delivery.

The CVC’s unique value proposition offers one-of-a-kind insights where it analyzes, at the ZIP Code, census tract, and block-group level, where a community’s most vulnerable residents live and the root cause factors limiting these residents’ ability to thrive. The CVC analyzes 26 clinical and socio-economic indicators that reveal the health, resiliency, and economic vibrancy of neighborhoods. CVC’s analyses provide true, holistic pictures of who needs the most assistance and where to find them, enabling proactive support of those in need.

Though the CVC offers an impressive set of features, as public health leaders, we have choices. There are many available tools we can use to better understand our communities and their social conditions. That is where CVC sets itself apart. It offers localized data to our partners or customers catchment area, not just generalized, large geographical regions. It shows— to the block group — what the social conditions are and the root causes of those conditions.

For example, our research reflected the differences between CVC and the Area Deprivation Index [ADI], Social Vulnerability Index [SVI], and Environmental Justice Index [EJI]). As presented in the article, the CVC’s Community Vulnerability Index (CVI), and 4 sub indexes, were used to classify all 18,638 Texas census-block groups as Very-High, High, Moderate, Low, and Very-Low social vulnerability. Individual patients were then assigned the vulnerability classification of their home address census-block group, creating a bridge between neighborhood-level data and individual-level health insights. CVC’s classifications were compared against three existing community vulnerability tools and validated against individual-level SDOH screening tools or Z-code documentation, but where we clearly separate ourselves from the others is we localize data to our partners or customers catchment area. Spearman rank correlation was used for neighborhood-level comparisons and precision/recall, for individual-level comparisons.

Let’s look at what each of these different systems offer and how we differ in features and performance.

Area Deprivation Index (ADI)

What the ADI Provides: The ADI is a composite measure that uses U.S. Census data to assess socioeconomic disadvantage at a neighborhood level. It provides valuable insights for healthcare providers and policymakers to understand and address health disparities.

CVC Difference: While ADI focuses on socioeconomic disadvantage, CVC goes beyond this by integrating various medical and non-medical determinants of health (NMDoH) indicators to provide actionable insights at the block-group level. CVC provides key insights to strengthen local interventions, empowering both health systems and CBOs to implement strategies directly targeting specific vulnerabilities in their communities.

The Social Vulnerability Index (SVI)

What The SVI Provides: Developed by the CDC, the SVI measures community resilience to external stresses using various social factors. It is commonly used for disaster preparedness and resource allocation.

CVC Difference: While SVI provides valuable data at a census tract level, CVC offers block-group-level insights, allowing for more precise targeting of interventions. CVC focuses on actionable data for public health departments, health systems, and CBOs, empowering them to engage effectively with vulnerable populations.

Environmental Justice Index (EJI)

What The EJI Provides: The EJI assesses the environmental and health burdens faced by disadvantaged communities. It focuses on exposure to environmental hazards, considering factors like pollution and access to green spaces, to identify areas at risk.

CVC Difference: CVC complements the EJI by not only focusing on environmental factors but also incorporating social vulnerabilities that contribute to overall health disparities. This broader perspective allows CVC to provide a more comprehensive understanding of community needs, facilitating targeted interventions that address factors: health, environment, and NMDoH.

In the research presented in the JAMIA paper, we see that overall, the CVC was comparable to, or outperformed, existing neighborhood indexes in measuring key SDOH at both the neighborhood and individual level. CVC showed a strong correlation with existing SDOH indexes from the ADI, SVI, and EJI across multiple social risk domains, demonstrating its ability to identify a cross-cutting range of social vulnerabilities and community equity markers. Additionally, CVC had very good recall rates for individual-level SDOH, both when validated against Z-code documentation and against self-reported survey tools (>75%).

This table, developed for the JAMIA paper, tells the full comparison article¹:

Community Vulnerability Index (CVI) and CVC Subindexes Recall and Precision Rates for Self-Reported Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) Using Surveys.

SDOH	Community Vulnerability Index		Empowered People Subindex		Equitable Communities Subindex		Good Health Subindex		Household Essentials Subindex
SDOH	Precision (%)	Recall (%)	Precision (%)	Recall (%)	Precision (%)	Recall (%)	Precision (%)	Recall (%)	Precision (%)	Recall (%)
Food Need	75.1	77.5	75.1	73.4	74.6	55.3	75.1	72.9	75.4	74.4
Housing Need	36.9	78.6	36.4	73.4	39.1	59.8	37.3	74.7	36.3	73.9
Safety Need	1.2	79.6	1.0	66.0	1.2	56.3	1.3	81.6	1.1	70.9
Transportation Need	31.9	79.3	31.9	75.2	33.5	59.9	32.5	76.0	31.8	75.7
Utility Need	42.6	77.0	42.7	73.2	41.4	53.7	42.3	71.8	42.8	74.0

For each CVC Index/Sub-index, the highest values of precision/recall are highlighted in green and the lowest in blue; CVC: Community Vulnerability Compass.

PCCI’s CVC has been incorporated into a variety of use cases and settings throughout Texas, including adoption by the Dallas County Department of Health & Human Services, the University Heath (San Antonio) Transplant Center and serves as the backbone for the United Way of Metropolitan Dallas’ Data Capacity Building Initiative, which is helping hundreds of organizations in North Texas turn insights into impact.

As a member of the public health community, I am excited to see how we can use the CVC to better understand the true health of our communities and the contributing root causes. The research we presented in the JAMIA paper is so important to me as it shows clearly how the CVC can give me insights unavailable through any other means.

The thought-provoking results we are seeing gives our public health leaders a trusted new technology that will enable the delivery of more precise approaches to address the needs of those most at-risk in our communities.

About Yolande Pengetnze

Yolande Pengetnze, MD, MS, FAAP, is PCCI’s Senior Vice President of Clinical Leadership where she leads multiple projects including population health quality improvement projects focusing on preterm birth prevention and pediatric asthma at the individual and the population level. Dr. Pengetnze received her MD from the University of Yaounde in Cameroon and completed a Pediatric Residency at Maimonides Medical Center in New York. She was a faculty member at UTSW’s General Pediatric Hospitalist Division where she completed a General Pediatric/Health Services Research Fellowship training and earned a Master of Sciences in Clinical Sciences.

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¹ Oxford Academic – JAMIA Open Journal, Published July 2025, The Community Vulnerability Compass: a novel, scalable approach for measuring and visualizing social determinants of health insights, https://doi.org/10.1093/jamiaopen/ooaf059

VIDEO: PCCI’s Sachs Summer Scholars Innovation Showcase for 2025

VIDEO: PCCI‘s Sachs Summer Scholars Innovation Showcase for 2025

This year’s class of PCCI’s Sachs Summer Scholars have spent this term working closely with PCCI’s data scientists and clinical leaders on programs that have real impact. They have also had a chance to witness Parkland Health and Parkland Community Health Plan programs to help them understand their contributions serving vulnerable communities. They’ve also had a lot of fun along their journey.

The Innovation Showcase video shows how the interns took on the opportunity to explore some of PCCI’s most forward-thinking initiatives. These talented interns presented their work on high impact PCCI projects focused on innovative healthcare, groundbreaking artificial intelligence programs, and non-medical drivers of health projects.

Presentation topics included:
-Preterm birth prevention
-Suicide risk modeling
-Large language models (LLMs) applications
-Digital engagement scoring

To view the presentation, click below:

PCCI Event: Join us at the Sachs Summer Scholars Innovation Showcase on Friday, Aug. 8 at 9 a.m. at Pegasus Park

PCCI Event: Join us at the Sachs Summer Scholars Innovation Showcase on Friday, Aug. 8 at 9 a.m. at Pegasus Park

Please join us at Pegasus Park on Friday, August 8, 2025, from 9 a.m. to Noon, for PCCI’s Sachs Summer Scholars Innovation Showcase (or virtually at: https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/23077c98-65ac-4b1e-904f-6fb60e49b7c1@9a2a9ade-704f-4416-b094-47b8a504ad39).

PCCI’s Sachs Summer Scholars is an internship program that demonstrates PCCI’s ongoing commitment to provide women opportunities to experience new, transformational concepts in the data science and health technology industry.

The Innovation Showcase spotlights the work of PCCI’s elite group of intern’s experiences working on innovative healthcare, groundbreaking artificial intelligence programs, and non-medical drivers of health projects such as preterm birth prevention, large language models, digital engagement scoring, and suicide risk modeling, to name a few.

What:
• PCCI’s Sachs Summer Scholars Innovation Showcase
When:
• Friday, August 8th from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. (Lunch and networking to follow)
Where:
• In-person at Pegasus Park (MAP) in Room 101
• Virtually: https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/23077c98-65ac-4b1e-904f-6fb60e49b7c1@9a2a9ade-704f-4416-b094-47b8a504ad39

As one of the top data science and technology-focused internships in North Texas, PCCI’s program immerses students in meaningful, real-world projects with actual impact through practical applications of analytics, computing, and data science, all while advancing the spirit of mentorship and advancement of female students.

For a full overview of this year’s class, go to: https://pccinnovation.org/pcciscd1-sachs-summer-scholars-interns-set-to-advance-ai-innovations-for-vulnerable-populations/

Please mark your calendar for this event and I look forward to seeing you there!

Inside the JAMIA Open Paper on PCCI’s Community Vulnerability Compass

JAMIA Open Journal Examines PCCI’s Community Vulnerability Compass That Sets New Standard for Measuring Social Determinants of Health

JAMIA, through Oxford University Press’ platform, recently published and distributed an in-depth paper authored by Parkland Center for Clinical Innovation (PCCI), detailing how PCCI’s innovative Community Vulnerability Compass (CVC) elevates insights and performance of existing tools that measure community socioeconomic variation.

PCCI has achieved a significant breakthrough in addressing one of healthcare’s most pressing challenges: accurately identifying and measuring social determinants of health (SDOH) at scale. A cross-sectional study to build the CVC (2018-2023) and validate it (September 2023 to June 2024) was revealed in groundbreaking research published in JAMIA Open, a prestigious single-blind peer-reviewed, Gold Open Access journal that serves as a global forum for cutting-edge research in biomedical and health informatics. This publication demonstrates that PCCI’s CVC outperforms existing tools in measuring both neighborhood and individual-level social vulnerabilities.

Access the full research paper at: https://doi.org/10.1093/jamiaopen/ooaf059

Written by PCCI’s clinical and data science experts, the JAMIA article offers a comprehensive look at what tools are available to evaluate community SDOH elements, how the CVC tool works as well as the process and methods PCCI used to make head-to-head comparisons with other currently available tools.

As presented in the article, the CVC’s Community Vulnerability Index (CVI), and 4 subindexes were used to classify all 18,638 Texas census-block groups as Very-High, High, Moderate, Low, and Very-Low social vulnerability. Individual patients are then assigned the vulnerability classification of their home address census-block group, creating a bridge between neighborhood-level data and individual-level health insights. CVC’s classifications were compared against three existing community vulnerability tools, including Area Deprivation Index [ADI], Social Vulnerability Index [SVI], and Environmental Justice Index [EJI]) and validated against individual-level SDOH screening tools or Z-code documentation. Spearman rank correlation was used for neighborhood-level comparisons and precision/recall, for individual-level comparisons.

The paper shows that overall, the CVC was comparable to or outperformed existing neighborhood indexes in measuring key SDOH at both the neighborhood and individual level. CVC showed a strong correlation with existing SDOH indexes (ADI, SVI, and EJI) across multiple social risk domains, demonstrating its ability to identify a cross-cutting range of social vulnerabilities and community equity markers. Additionally, CVC had very good recall rates for individual-level SDOH both when validated against Z-code documentation and against self-reported survey tools (>75%).

“This paper summarizes countless hours of research and development that culminated in creating an industry leading SDOH measurement tool that has the potential and momentum to become the gold standard,” said Steve Miff, PhD, President and CEO of PCCI. “The data and information presented in the paper offers a fully transparent look into how the CVC works and its ability to surface hyper-localized insights that is novel and unique. We are very proud of achieving this key milestone and expanding of how the CVC can support communities and population health in ways that have previously been out of reach.”

The JAMIA article, co-authored by PCCI’s Yolande Pengetnze, MD, MS, Yusuf Tamer, PhD, Lance Rather, BS, and others, provided strong evidence of the benefit of gaining contextual understanding of social barriers to health in the individual’s micro-ecosystem.

“The JAMIA article digs deep into our approach and the steps we took to test how addressing social determinants at the block group level helps address specific needs and health of vulnerable populations,” said Yolande Pengetnze, MD, MS, PCCI’s Senior Vice President of Clinical Leadership. “This article shows clear, thought-provoking results that can equip public health leaders with a trusted tool enabling new methods of addressing the needs of those most at-risk in our communities.”

PCCI’s CVC analyzes, at the ZIP Code, census tract, and block-group level, where a community’s most vulnerable residents live and the root cause factors limiting these residents’ ability to thrive. The CVC analyzes 26 clinical and socio-economic indicators that reveal the health, resiliency, and economic vibrancy of neighborhoods. CVC’s analyses provide true, holistic pictures of who needs the most assistance and where to find them, enabling proactive support of those in need.

PCCI’s CVC has been incorporated into a variety of use case solutions throughout Texas, including adoption across the Parkland Health system, by the Dallas County Department of Health & Human Services, the University Heath (San Antonio) Transplant Center, and serves as the backbone for the United Way of Metropolitan Dallas’ Data Capacity Building Initiative, which is helping hundreds of organizations in North Texas turn insights into impact.

“This paper offers proof of the viability and potency of the CVC,” said Lance Rather, PCCI’s Senior Director, Product & Strategic Partnerships. “The paper offers clear evidence of how the CVC can provide data previously unavailable at the neighborhood level. Organizations that have implemented the CVC have discovered how rapidly and intuitively it transforms complex social vulnerability data into actionable insights that substantially advance their core missions. The use of the CVC can be applied in so many ways by different organizations, and we are excited at the possibilities that lay ahead.”

About PCCI

The Parkland Center for Clinical Innovation (PCCI) is a not-for-profit, mission-driven organization with industry-leading expertise in the responsible application of artificial intelligence, machine learning and non-medical drivers of health data modeling to address the needs of vulnerable populations. PCCI started as a department within Parkland Health and was spun out as an independent organization in 2012. PCCI strives to leapfrog the status quo by harnessing the transformative potential of data. Our unique capabilities allow us to provide innovative, actionable solutions that more effectively identify needs, prioritize services, empower providers, and engage patients.

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JAMIA Open publishes a paper on PCCI’s Community Vulnerability Compass (CVC)

JAMIA Open, a peer-reviewed journal from Oxford Academic Press, publishes a paper on PCCI’s Community Vulnerability Compass (CVC)

In a paper titled “The Community Vulnerability Compass: a novel, scalable approach for measuring and visualizing social determinants of health insights,” PCCI authors give a deep look at how the CVC is developed and deployed to create an accurate and scalable social determinants digital measurement tool that shows the true vulnerabilities residents face across our communities.

“This paper highlights the power of the CVC that gives us the ability to surface block-level insights allowing us to understand at scale the true nature and shared characteristics of critical non-medical vulnerabilities. This gives community and health leaders heightened, hyper-localized understanding of their neighborhoods they serve to create sustainable, customized solutions to support their health and wellness journey.”
Steve Miff, President & CEO of PCCI.

To read the paper, click on the PDF below or go here: https://academic.oup.com/jamiaopen/article/8/4/ooaf059/8186009

JAMIA CVC Paper Download

PCCI COO, Aida Somun, MBA, has been invited to join the 2025 Board of Examiners for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award

PCCI COO, Aida Somun, MBA, has been invited to join the 2025 Board of Examiners for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award

For the third time since 2019, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), has invited Aida Somun, MBA, PMP, Chief Operating Officer at Parkland Center for Clinical Innovation (PCCI), to the 2025 Board of Examiners for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. The Baldrige Award is the nation’s highest honor for organizational innovation and performance excellence.

Appointed by the NIST Director, examiners are responsible for reviewing and evaluating applications submitted for the Baldrige Award, as well as other assessment-related tasks. The examiner board is composed of leading experts competitively selected from industry, professional, trade, education, health care, and nonprofit (including government) organizations from across the United States.

Those selected meet the highest standards of qualification and peer recognition, demonstrating competencies related to customer focus, communication, ethics, action orientation, team building, and analytical skills. All members of the board must take part in a nationally ranked leadership development course based on the Baldrige Excellence Framework and the scoring/evaluation processes for the Baldrige Award. They must also complete an independent review of a Baldrige Award application or other comparable examiner task.

Somun has 20 years of experience as a business leader known for driving profitable growth, cost savings and delivery. She ensures operational excellence through consistent contributions to bottom line efficiency, performance and process improvements. She is most passionate about leading and influencing strategic decision making for operationalizing the right innovative programs focused on improving individual’s health, both physical as well as socio-economic.

Somun recently was included in the Dallas Business Journal’s first-ever C-Suite Leaders Awards was also a recipient of the Dallas Business Journal’s 13th annual Women in Business Awards.

Named after Malcolm Baldrige, the 26th Secretary of Commerce, the Baldrige Award was established by Congress in 1987. Awards may be given annually to organizations in each of six categories: manufacturing, service, small business, education, health care, and nonprofit. The Award promotes innovation and excellence in organizational performance, recognizes the achievements and results of U.S. organizations, and publicizes successful performance strategies.

Five years after the chaos of COVID-19 comes a new era of AI innovation

Five years after the chaos of COVID-19 comes a new era of AI innovation

By Steve Miff, PhD, President & CEO of PCCI

Five years ago this week, the COVID-19 pandemic threw our world into chaos. But that chaos also sparked an opportunity and a drive to accelerate innovation, through leveraging artificial intelligence with clinical knowledge in unprecedented ways. The results of these Covid-driven efforts have led to a fuller understanding of our community’s health, enabling the initiation of care further upstream and enhancing management of resources and costs in ways benefiting both patients and providers.

I can still remember that week five years ago. I had my bags packed and flight booked to travel to one of the biggest healthcare technology conferences, HIMSS, in Orlando, Fla., when the word came down. The government declared a full lockdown of the country thanks to the pernicious COVID-19 outbreak that the World Health Organization had declared a full-blown pandemic.

Sadly, the cost of COVID-19 in lives— 1.2 million deaths in the U.S. alone— was devastating and the reverberations of the pandemic still affect our daily lives.

However, the chaos and heartache also stimulated a new mindset for collaboration. While the lockdown closed our office doors, it opened new windows to collaborate with other stakeholders across our community. Our teams immediately partnered with Dallas County Health and Human Services (DCHHS), Parkland Health (Parkland) , and other local providers and governmental agencies to help support our North Texas public health leaders and families manage through the ever-changing nature of the COVID-19 pandemic. We deployed a transparent, data-driven set of analytics to inform the dynamic allocation of resources, guide triage protocols in emergency rooms, identify COVID-19 community hotspots, and predict rising waves of hospitalizations and capacity challenges. These collaborations would evolve into support for testing, vaccination distribution, and measuring of community-wide immunity to the infection.

While many of the solutions developed during COVID-19 were industry firsts, we continue today to leverage and expand on many of these same novel applications in AI and non-medical drivers of health (NMDoH) analytics.

Vulnerability Index

The development of the Covid Vulnerability Index and geo-mapped hotspotting created the dynamic dashboards that guided the local pandemic response, including the placement of the testing, and later vaccination sites. This novel approach later expanded into what’s now the Community Vulnerability Index, an industry leading NMDoH analytics method modeling community and neighborhood barriers to health and wellness.

Proximity Index

The Covid Proximity Index was used to predict the risk of infection daily at the individual level using advanced geomapping and data science techniques to guide personal awareness and behaviors, county-wide contact tracing, healthcare provider virtual care scheduling, and ED triage. We are so proud of the United States Patent for AI driven proximity index system and methods (US 12,087,449 B2) that was awarded to PCCI late last year. We’re now leveraging these methods alongside mobility data to understand access to vital services and placement of new access points in the community. The Proximity Index was also featured in the highly respected peer-reviewed New England Journal of Medicine Catalyst in a paper authored by Parkland’s CEO Frederick Cerise, MD and others.

Community Protection Modeling

The national Covid Community Protection Dashboard was launched in collaboration with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), Civitas Networks for Health, and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital to model local behaviors and immunity patterns and help communities manage through new Covid variants and waves. We learned that the dynamic nature of modeling factors and a community’s protection depends on the characteristics of the most prevalent current variant and the immunity from prior vaccination and infections, adjusting for the time elapsed from the most recent immunizing event. These innovations translated into the development and deployment of the Pediatric Asthma Surveillance System (PASS), the soon to be released Diabetes/Hypertension Surveillance System, and the development of a novel Maternal Health Surveillance System. Each of the programs are (or will be) in use in Dallas County and provide life-saving support to its residents.

Better Preparedness for Future Crises

The pandemic brought Parkland, our main public health system, closer to DCHHS and many other public health leaders, working together with PCCI to build new policies and procedures to manage the COVID-19 emergency and future public health crises. And have no doubt about it, it is only a matter of when, not if, we will have more COVID-19-like outbreaks.

In the big picture for public health innovation, COVID-19 created a necessity for us to be innovative and try new ways to solve extremely difficult problems. This same way of thinking is helping us today as we tackle ongoing health challenges through improved collaborations and tools. For example, our Community Vulnerability Compass (CVC) is a tool that can provide deeps insights into the complexities of societal challenges to health, access, and community well-being affecting our neighborhoods throughout Texas. It can tell you, for example, what local daily challenges our residents face down to the block level. The CVC has been adopted by a variety of organizations around the state, led by the United Way of Metropolitan Dallas through its Data Capacity Building Initiative that, within five years, aims to equip over 200 community-based partners with robust data insights from the CVC.

And as previously mentioned, the PASS system is celebrating its two-year anniversary of providing residents of Dallas County unprecedented understanding of their vulnerability to asthma-related risks. PASS is a community-wide effort between the county, PCCI, and Parkland and is publicly available at the DCHHS website. It has been visited by thousands of Dallas County residents and was honored by the Dallas County Commissioners for its service to asthma sufferers and was described by the Dallas Morning News as “a win for Dallas County.” PASS has also been featured in the New England Journal of Medicine Catalyst.

The pandemic did put a damper on at least one of our innovations. The book, “Building Connected Communities of Care,” was due to drop via a major release at the Orlando HIMSS convention in March, 2020. The celebration and release was changed and conducted virtually and digitally. This guidebook helps communities and public health leaders create holistic community networks that support any number of health management issues. Thanks to its insights and easy-to-follow steps, “Building Connected Communities of Care” has become an invaluable resource for many public health leaders across the country. It was also featured in the New England Journal of Medicine Catalyst for its insights it offers in handling community healthcare crises.

The COVID-19 pandemic was not easy on anyone, but we are wise to remember what happened during those tough times and leverage the innovations and progress towards bigger and broader ongoing impact. We will continue to leverage the critical clinical and community health lessons COVID-19 taught us in innovative programs incorporating the newest AI technology. As a community, while we remember the terrible price COVID-19 cost our friends and families, we should feel some level of optimism that the next time we will be better prepared and stronger together.

Pre-pandemic Post pandemic

About Steve Miff

Dr. Steve Miff is the President and CEO of Parkland Center for Clinical Innovation (PCCI), a leading, research non-profit, artificial intelligence and cognitive computing organization affiliated with Parkland Health, one of the country’s largest and most progressive safety-net hospitals. Spurred by his passion to use next-generation analytics and technology to help serve the most vulnerable and underserved residents, Steve and his team focus on leveraging technology, data science, and clinical expertise to obtain unique non-medical-determinants-of-health data and incorporate those holistic, personal insights into point-of-care interventions.

PCCI Experts Set to Deliver Major Presentations to the nation’s healthcare leaders at HIMSS25

PCCI Experts Set to Deliver Major Presentations to the nation’s healthcare leaders at HIMSS25

Starting March 5, PCCI experts are joining leaders from Parkland Health to present cutting-edge AI healthcare programs in prime spots at 2025 HIMSS Global Health Conference and Exhibition in Las Vegas, the epicenter of healthcare innovation.

The presentations are:

Creating a Large Language Model to Catalog Important Radiologist Recommendations

Wednesday, March 5, 3:15 PM to 4:15 PM PACIFIC

Speakers

Alex Treacher, PhD, Senior Data and Applied Scientist – PCCI
Albert Karam, Vice President, Data Strategy and Analytics – PCCI
Brett Moran, Chief Health Officer – Parkland Health

Abstract

Medical errors, the third leading cause of death in the U.S., include wrong or delayed diagnoses, causing more serious harm than any other type of medical error. Delayed or missed opportunities for diagnoses (MOD) are particularly common in diagnostic imaging, where incidental findings often require further evaluation. At Parkland Health, a major safety-net public health system, 1.7 percent of all CT and MRI studies involve such findings. To address this, a large language model (LLM) is developed that identifies and flags delayed surveillance recommendations from radiologists’ interpretations. These delayed recommendations result in MODs 17 percent of the time. This LLM has been integrated into the electronic health record (EHR) of Parkland Health, enabling centralized management and navigation of these cases. Our results demonstrate 95 percent accuracy in identifying imaging that requires follow-up based on physician notes and 85 percent accuracy in determining the appropriate timing for follow-up. This work outlines the process, development, tools, current performance, and future plans for building an automated system to enhance image surveillance and mitigate MODs in diagnostic imaging.

https://app.himssconference.com/widget/event/himss-2025/planning/UGxhbm5pbmdfMjExNzI1Mw==

Know Thy Patient: AI/ML-Driven Clustering of Diabetes/Hypertension Populations

Thursday, March 6, 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM (US/Pacific)

Speakers:

Yolande Pengetnze, MD, Senior Vice President, Clinical Leadership – PCCI
Yusuf Tamer, PhD, Principal Data and Applied Scientist- PCCI
Michael Lane, Senior Vice President, Chief Quality and Safety Officer – Parkland Health
Teresita Oaks, Director, Community Health Programs – Parkland Health

Abstract

In Dallas County’s safety-net population, an AI/machine learning-driven unsupervised clustering algorithm identifies clusters of diabetic and hypertensive patients with a combination of social and clinical risk factors associated with suboptimal quality of care (e.g., inadequate of Hemoglobin A1C monitoring) and poor disease control. Clusters analyses uncover underlying, actionable risk drivers such as criminal justice involvement and immigration concerns that require innovative, culturally-responsive approaches for a sustainable engagement of these vulnerable populations into effective preventive care. Additional in-depth analyses identify missed and potential opportunities for care engagement that inform innovative workflow modifications leveraging traditional (e.g., EHR-based standing orders) and nontraditional (e.g., telehealth modalities and mobile units) approaches to effectively engage and support these vulnerable populations and improve health quality, outcomes and equity countywide. The data sets and analytical approaches are scalable and replicable to other vulnerable populations nationwide.

https://app.himssconference.com/widget/event/himss-2025/planning/UGxhbm5pbmdfMjExNzI0NQ==

PCCI 2025 Annual Impact Report Now Available

Parkland Center for Clinical Innovation releases its 2025 annual impact report highlighting recent accomplishments

Parkland Center for Clinical Innovation (PCCI), a non-profit innovation and research institute for advanced data science and non-medical drivers of health (NMDoH) innovation, has released its annual impact report detailing its successes and activities from 2024.

To view or download an e-version of the report go to: PCCI 2025 Annual Impact Report

“The Annual Impact Report features some of the outstanding results the team at PCCI had in 2024,” said Steve Miff, PhD, President and CEO of PCCI. “The report highlights our expanding AI in medicine for underserved populations solutions through novel programs and partnerships in North Texas and around the state.”

These AI-focused programs featured in the report include PCCI’s leadership in advanced AI and NMDoH analytics for clinical decision support and population health and surveillance systems. The report also features the national activities and engagements of PCCI experts and leaders who drive the organization’s programs and mission to support the underserved.

“I am very excited to share the accomplishments and leadership of our team and our partners,” Miff said. “Our mission of driving innovation in AI for underserved populations is at the heart of everything we do. This past year our team built and deployed novel and scalable solutions and contributed to the emerging knowledge and guidelines for ethical, responsible and equitable uses of AI in healthcare.”

To receive a printed version of the PCCI 2025 Annual Impact Report, email your request to Info@pccinnovation.org.

About PCCI

The Parkland Center for Clinical Innovation (PCCI) is a not-for-profit, mission-driven organization with industry-leading expertise in the practical applications of artificial intelligence, machine learning and NMDoH data modeling to address the needs of vulnerable populations. PCCI started as a department within Parkland Health and was spun out as an independent organization in 2012. PCCI strives to leapfrog the status quo by harnessing the transformative potential of data. Our unique capabilities allow us to provide innovative, actionable solutions that more effectively identify needs, prioritize services, empower providers, and engage patients.

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Disparities Next Door: PCCI’s Community Vulnerability Compass spotlights areas of increased vulnerability across Dallas County

Disparities Next Door: PCCI’s Community Vulnerability Compass spotlights areas of increased vulnerability across Dallas County

Dallas, Texas (Sept. 19, 2024) – Researchers at Parkland Center for Clinical Innovation (PCCI) have highlighted areas of increased vulnerability within Dallas County after conducting an analysis using PCCI’s Community Vulnerability Compass (CVC). The findings include a number of pockets of highly vulnerable areas within many low vulnerability ZIP Codes.

It is well-documented that many ZIP Codes in the south and southeast areas of Dallas County (see image 1) are home to long-standing socio-economically disadvantaged populations and have the highest vulnerability rating. However, PCCI’s analysis underscores what Parkland and other officials have long stated: that in addition to the south and southeast regions, there are other ZIP Codes in Dallas County with low vulnerability but are home to highly vulnerable block groups. Specifically, these include 18 Dallas County ZIP Codes with an overall very low or low vulnerability rating that contain within them 48 block groups with high or very high vulnerability ratings. The 18 ZIP Codes have a total population of 590,971, with 72,954 (12.3%) of their residents living in these very high vulnerability blocks groups.

“In some cases, we find that a very high area of vulnerability is across the street from a very low area of vulnerability.“
Steve Miff, phd, President and CEO of PCCI

The “very high” designation indicates that these neighborhoods are in the top 20% of vulnerability when compared to the rest of Dallas County. CVC vulnerability groupings are localized to the Dallas County geography and broken into quintiles and clustered into very low, low, moderate, high and very high areas.

“For good reason we focus a lot of our efforts on supporting the underserved communities in south and southeast Dallas County, but CVC empowers us with refined geographic precision to examine our broader community and uncover data that provides a high-resolution understanding of social vulnerability factors within other micro-geographies in our community,” said Steve Miff, PhD, President and CEO of PCCI. “In this examination, CVC highlights areas of deprivation that may be masked by gentrification and/or historical surrounding prosperity. In some cases, we find that a very high area of vulnerability is across the street from a very low area of vulnerability.”

For example, ZIP Code 75206, located in the Greenland Hills area that runs along Highway 75 and is bordered by Highway 12 and Skillman Avenue, is rated very low vulnerability by the CVC, but includes four block groups that are rated by the CVC as high and very high vulnerability. In this ZIP Code, which has a total population of 38,209, there are 2,661 (7%) who experience high or the very highest levels of vulnerability as measured by the CVC.

One ZIP Code of note, 75254, located north of the Galleria between Dallas North Tollway and Coit Road, has an overall low vulnerability rating, but includes 8 high or very high vulnerability blocks. Of this area’s total population of 24,047, 12,522 (52.1%) residents experience high or very high vulnerability. (see Image 2)

Additionally, ZIP Code 75230, which is considered to be an economically advantaged area in North Dallas between Walnut Hill and Interstate 635, includes a very high vulnerability block group.

“The lesson is that we need to look beyond our expectations and understand that disparities and vulnerability are all around us no matter how prosperous a given area may appear,” Miff said. “We hope this will bring an additional level of high-resolution, hyper-localized understanding of social vulnerability factors and empower leaders across all communities with relevant information to improve and sustain the lives of all Dallas County residents. North Texas has outstanding public health leaders who are doing a great job supporting vulnerable populations throughout the county and we hope this helps them as well as policymakers, community-based organizations and others who are vested in helping mitigate disparity.”

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About PCCI

The Parkland Center for Clinical Innovation (PCCI) is a not-for-profit, mission-driven organization with industry-leading expertise in the responsible application of artificial intelligence, machine learning and NMDOH data modeling to address the needs of vulnerable populations. PCCI started as a department within Parkland Health and was spun out as an independent organization in 2012. PCCI strives to leapfrog the status quo by harnessing the transformative potential of data. Our unique capabilities allow us to provide innovative, actionable solutions that more effectively identify needs, prioritize services, empower providers, and engage patients.

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