In The News: PCCI collaborates with mental health services coalition in Gregg County, Texas

PCCI’s collaboration with a healthcare services coalition in Gregg County designed to improve support for mental health in the region was highlighted in the Longview News-Journal. Click the headline below to see the full article:

Gregg County collaborative designed to funnel mentally ill from hospital ERs

The Parkland Center for Clinical Innovation is a Dallas-based collaborative team of data scientists and healthcare professionals who use data and social determinants of health to better support under-served communities, and it has agreed to help with data analysis, Williams said.

 

D CEO Healthcare: Avoiding Pre-Term Birth with Text Messages

D CEO Healthcare features PCCI’s work with the Parkland Community Health Plan and Parkland Hospital on pre-term birth prevention. The results of this work show how PCCI and Parkland are working together to develop innovative ways to improve healthcare for the under-served in our community.

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Avoiding Pre-Term Birth with Text Messages in Dallas

At the Parkland Center for Clinical Innovation, data analytics and technology are improving outcomes for underserved pregnant women in Dallas. One significant way to reduce maternal and infant mortality is to avoid pre-term birth, and in 2017, Texas had a 10.4 percent pre-term birth rate – earning a D in the annual ranking from March of Dimes.

The women were enrolled in the Parkland health plan, which reached out to them to get the women signed up for the texting system. Pre-term birth can be a difficult thing to predict, says Dr. Joseph Chang, Associate Chief Medical Officer for Outpatient and Ambulatory Services at Parkland. Traditionally, the only way to know if a women was going to have a pre-term birth was if she had a past pre-term birth. But he says that a couple of interventions, including progesterone shots, can make a huge difference.

“Adherence to medicine is the biggest factor,” Chang says. “If we really were able to identify the right people, use a platform for today’s young parents, maybe that would really work.”

Because Parkland is both the health plan and the healthcare provider, PCCI was able to access both sides of the payer relationship in a way that can be difficult to access in traditional healthcare systems. Their system brought the electronic health record together with behavioral health information to identify the women, and yielded impressive results.

Appointments were closely monitored, with PCCI measuring data along the way to adjust the text messaging and tailor it to the patients’ needs. After just one year, women in the program increased prenatal visit attendance by 24 percent, reduced pre-term birth by 27 percent. The program also reduced post-delivery cost by 54 percent in the first year.  The 679 women who enrolled saved the system $1 million in the first year.

Fighting healthcare battles before the patient arrives at the doctor is important for PCCI CEO Steve Miff. “Health begins where we work, live, learn, play, and pray,” he says. “We are moving upstream, because if they are not addressed it will have a negative impact on health.”

Politico covered PCCI’s efforts to reduce frequent flyers by targeting patients who lacked many of the supports needed after they left the hospital. Their software connected social service agencies to the healthcare system to refer patients to get those services outside of the hospital, which would be cheaper and more efficient than seeing patients return again and again because they lacked food or housing. The impact was significant. The pre-term birth program is another way to head off medical costs before they happen.

Looking ahead, PCCI hopes to continue to fight social isolation to provide access to services, improving many of the behavioral and environmental factors that negatively impact health. “How do we use digital tech and bring women together, create clusters of similar individuals, customize behavioral therapy?” Miff says. “We can do that via a digitally provided environment, we can do it from home, and bridge the gap via telemedicine.”

Chang sees this technology being applied to any number of ailments, but sees a massive opportunity in addressing diabetes treatment. There are apps for measuring and taking glucose, but the texting might be more effective because it doesn’t require another application. “The biggest problem is taking their medicine – taking it and taking it correctly.”

https://healthcare.dmagazine.com/2019/08/13/avoiding-pre-term-birth-with-text-messages-in-dallas/

PCCI Participating in the HHS ‘Advancing American Kidney Health’ Initiative

DALLAS – Parkland Center for Clinical Innovation (PCCI), which improves healthcare for vulnerable populations using advanced data science and clinical experts, is contributing its capabilities to support elements of the “Advancing American Kidney Health Initiative” announced by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) earlier this month.

The HHS initiative’s aim is to improve the lives of the 37 million patients who suffer from chronic kidney disease and more than 726,000 who have end-stage renal disease. There are nearly 100,000 Americans waiting on the list to receive a kidney transplant. Kidney disease ranks as the ninth leading cause of death in America, costs Medicare $114 billion a year and represents one of the most significant expenses for the VA’s health programs.

PCCI is contributing to the initiative through two grants to the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center’s Miquel Vazquez, MD. Specifically, PCCI will be applying its proficiency with advanced data science applied to electronic health records to aid at-risk patient identification and develop predictive modeling. This effort is in support of preventing and mitigating kidney disease, keeping patients out of hospitals, and helping find different ways to define and manage kidney disease.

“We are very proud to contribute PCCI’s unique combination of advanced data science and clinical expertise to this important initiative,” said PCCI’s President and CEO, Steve Miff, PhD. “This program, under Dr. Vazquez, the grant principle, is critical to millions of Americans who are suffering from kidney disease. We are excited that PCCI’s experience applying healthcare data in clinical settings with veterans and other groups prone to kidney disease is aiding the kidney health initiative.”

Members of PCCI’s advanced analytics and clinical teams are participating in the initiative’s research studies and work groups, helping advance the program’s goal of transforming the way kidney disease is prevented and treated.

About Parkland Center for Clinical Innovation

Parkland Center for Clinical Innovation (PCCI) is an independent, not-for-profit, healthcare intelligence organization affiliated with Parkland Health & Hospital System. PCCI focuses on creating connected communities through data science and cutting-edge technologies like machine learning. PCCI combines extensive clinical expertise with advanced analytics and artificial intelligence to enable the delivery of patient-centric precision medicine at the point of care.

PCCI’s Steve Miff Nominated for Dallas Business Journal’s Most Admired CEO Award

The Dallas Business Journal has announced that PCCI’s CEO, Steve Miff, PhD., has been nominated for its “2019 Most Admired CEO Award” in the healthcare category.

Dr. Miff joined PCCI as president and CEO in January 2017 and leads a pioneering organization that brings together top data scientists and healthcare experts to create programs supporting the health of vulnerable populations.

The Dallas Business Journal’s Most Admired CEO Awards honors the executives who inspire those around them, hold their employees, products and services in the highest regard, run their companies with integrity and are shining examples of how all companies should be run and managed.

Dr. Miff is a recognized national thought leader with more than 20 years of experience in healthcare analytics and consulting. He is a first generation American and has experienced first-hand many of the same challenges as the people PCCI supports in its community.

The Dallas Business Journal will honor its winners at a dinner on September 25, 2019. Rick Allen, CEO of Paragon Healthcare Inc., was the previous winner of the award in the healthcare category.

About Parkland Center for Clinical Innovation

Parkland Center for Clinical Innovation (PCCI) is an independent, not-for-profit, healthcare intelligence organization affiliated with Parkland Health & Hospital System. PCCI focuses on creating connected communities through data science and cutting-edge technologies like machine learning. PCCI combines extensive clinical expertise with advanced analytics and artificial intelligence to enable the delivery of patient-centric precision medicine at the point of care.

 

Dallas Medical Journal: Pediatric Asthma Confront the Barriers

PCCI’s mission is to support our community’s vulnerable populations, which includes helping children with chronic health issues, such as pediatric asthma. PCCI has been working for several years developing and testing predictive models to identify children at risk for asthma exacerbations. You can now see how this predictive modeling was used to help support pediatric asthma patients in the July issue of the Dallas Medical Journal.

In an article written by C. Turner Lewis, III, MD, Medical Director of Children’s Medical Clinics of East Texas, Dr. Lewis describes a pediatric asthma pilot program’s success story and the obstacles his team had to overcome. The good news is the children participating in Dr. Lewis’ program, aided by PCCI’s asthma medication ratio data, have experienced positive outcomes.

Have a look at Dr. Lewis’ article here:

Pediatric Asthma

PCCI is proud to be a part of this outstanding program and congratulate Dr. Lewis for the excellent service he is providing to the children of the DFW area.

To learn more about how PCCI’s innovative approach is helping support improved health for vulnerable populations in our communities, please visit our website.

PCCI’s Aida Somun Named to Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award Board of Examiners for 2019

DALLAS – The Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has named Aida Somun, Chief Operations Officers at Parkland Center for Clinical Innovation (PCCI) in Dallas, Texas, to the Board of Examiners for the 2019 MalcolmBaldrige 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 more than 325 leading experts competitively selected from industry, professional, trade, education, healthcare 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 15 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.

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, healthcare 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. Since the first group was recognized in 1988, 124 awards have been presented to 115 organizations (including eight repeat recipients).

NIST manages the Baldrige Award in close conjunction with the private sector.

The Baldrige Performance Excellence Program also offers the 2019–2020 BaldrigeExcellence Framework: Proven Leadership and Management Practices for High Performance, which includes the world-emulated Criteria for Performance Excellence;Baldrige Excellence Builder; Baldrige Cybersecurity Excellence Builder; nationally ranked leadership training; and the Baldrige Collaborative Assessment and other assessment tools.

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About Parkland Center for Clinical Innovation

Parkland Center for Clinical Innovation (PCCI) is an independent, not-for-profit, healthcare intelligence organization affiliated with Parkland Health & Hospital System. PCCI focuses on creating connected communities through data science and cutting-edge technologies like machine learning. PCCI combines extensive clinical expertise with advanced analytics and artificial intelligence to enable the delivery of patient-centric precision medicine at the point of care.