#95 Enabling the Power of Data to Support Care Initiatives With Leigh McCormack - Healthcare Analytics Evangelist and Chief Executive Officer
Leigh McCormack is a thought leader with 10+ years of experience in developing and applying analytical solutions to complex healthcare problems. She has a deep understanding of data science concepts, methods, and technologies and how to appropriately apply each to accurately and creatively meet objectives. Leigh also has experience building analytic and technical teams from their genesis, through organizational design, and into maturation to the point of demonstrable business value. Leigh is the Chief Executive Officer of Base Camp, a healthcare analytics platform that leverages geospatial analytics, natural language processing, and machine learning to curate actionable social determinant of health insights.
Leigh speaks about reviewing data in a clinical trial. Healthcare data is so private and personal; there are many limitations on how it can be used or reused. If you analyze data differently, it may have great benefits. However, if the patient does not give consent for a particular purpose, then it may not be able to be used. Insurance companies collect healthcare data because it will affect how the patient or doctor gets paid. Leigh was part of an advanced analytics team – they supported their marketing teams to understand the different paying members and how they should market to them. Leigh says they could also indicate which patients may be at risk for being hospitalized again by using their data.
Leigh talks about measuring health outcomes with patients in the healthcare industry. One of the program evaluation teams would work on specific disease management programs. Over time, they would work with other teams to understand the impact. The other teams were very quick to notice when things needed to be calibrated in the data. Sometimes an insight would appear to be erroneous, so they would work on correcting it on the data side.
Then, Leigh speaks about her journey advancing at BlueCross. She would teach herself on the job and flex her creative side. Leigh spearheaded the first advanced analytics team at the company. Her career was able to grow while the company was also growing. Leigh also says her support systems were terrific. She was able to express her own interests and develop her career that way. Her leaders saw that they needed to keep with data to stay relevant in the industry. Leigh needed to sell herself and her results when presenting data to her leaders. There is a skill to be able to express data to non-technical teams or technical teams that don’t utilize data science. You have to break from the technical aspects to do the people telling aspects of the job.
Later, Leigh explains how she goes on a data journey with her team. They draw up a one or two-page document before they ever touch a keyboard. Having a written plan will give the customer confidence. Long before anything is coded, the customer knows what will drive value for the organization. Plus, it helps the customer feel more comfortable to open up. Data scientists need to understand who they are building it for and why they are building it. Leigh says the social side of healthcare is widely known. A lot of the data and research initiatives are still in development because social needs are not well documented. Stay tuned as Leigh talks about her drive, the challenges in the startup world, and how she prioritizes her time.
Enjoy the show!
We speak about:
[01:00] How Leigh got started in data
[05:00] What data did you look at in clinical trials?
[06:00] How can healthcare data be used and reused?
[08:30] What type of analytics did you look at in the health care industry?
[09:40] How detailed can you go into your findings from the data?
[12:20] Were you able to measure health outcomes?
[14:15] How was your journey advancing in the company?
[16:00] Did your leaders see the importance of data?
[20:10] How do you go on a data journey with your team?
[22:00] Where else has your career taken you?
[24:25] Do you need to sell the social side of data to organizations?
[25:55] What type of projects have you been working on this past year?
[27:40] How have career transitions been for you?
[29:30] What are your other positions, and how do you balance your time?
[33:30] Where does your drive come from?
[35:40] How do you balance family life and work?
[36:40] How did you come up with the idea to start your own company?
[39:20] What part of your career set you up to tackle your startup challenges?
[40:45] How do you spend your time at work?
[42:11] What is a piece of advice you would give our listeners?
Resources:
Leigh’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leigh-mccormack-939a3222/
Base Camp Health: https://basecamp-health.com/
ChaTech: https://chatechcouncil.org/
Women in Analytics: https://womeninanalytics.com/
Quotes:
“Healthcare organizations don’t understand the amount of data that they are sitting on.”
“Not only do I have to live inside my data science framework, but now I have to master my marketing framework and a sales framework.”
“There is something new every day in data science and artificial intelligence.”
“Don’t stay in your lane.”
Thank you to our sponsors:
Fyrebox - Make Your Own Quiz!
RMIT Online Master of Data Science Strategy and Leadership
Gain the advanced strategic, leadership and data science capabilities required to influence executive leadership teams and deliver organisation-wide solutions. Visit online.rmit.edu.au for more information
We are RUBIX. - one of Australia’s leading pure data consulting companies delivering project outcomes for some of the world’s leading brands.
And as always, we appreciate your Reviews, Follows, Likes, Shares and Ratings. Thank you so much for listening. Enjoy the show!