Data For Good: Predictive Analytics to Personalize Health Care

Originally posted on DataKind's blog.
 

As part of National Volunteer Week this month, we are profiling our DataCorps volunteers of projects past, present and future. These volunteers donate a whopping 5-10 hours a week over the course of several months to apply data science techniques that can help advance a social change organization's mission.

Thresholds Evaluation Department is delighted to be working with DataKind and the fabulous volunteer team they've recruited to meet our specific needs. The project will help Thresholds combine data from multiple health and social sectors to use in identifying and better caring for those individuals with the most complex health and social needs. Just as exciting is the team's preliminary ideas for developing a predictive algorithm to forsee emergency room and jail readmissions, which will allow Thresholds clinicians to provide more tailored and intensive services as necessary post-discharge. Not only will the project result in better care for some of Chicago's most vulnerable citizens, it will help reduce health care system cost and demonstrate the power of collaboration across social service and health sectors. We are looking forward to working with Brennan, Iakov, Lulu, and Radu!

-Kristin Davis Director, Evaluation

Thresholds provides healthcare, housing, and hope for thousands of persons with mental illnesses in Illinois each year. In a project sponsored by Bloomberg, a DataCorps team will be helping Thresholds create a data warehouse for Medicaid claims and Cook County jail data as well as automate the creation of dashboards staff use to tailor care to their members. The team will also explore the potential to use predictive analytics to help staff tailor care for their members in order to ultimately reduce the cost of care delivery and help more people will mental illnesses reclaim their lives.

Read the full post by clicking here.