WakeMed Health & Hospitals implemented predictive analytics software from Pera Health, a software-as-a-service company, that sorts through EHR data to identify potential predictors for decline in a patient's health.

Today's healthcare providers are inundated with data from multiple sources and care locations, but often lack methods of transforming it into actionable insights. That leaves providers with numerous blind spots that hinder their ability to optimize revenues and measure performance.

Kshemendra Paul will serve as chief data officer and executive director for data governance and analytics at the Department of Veterans Affairs, VA announced Sept. 23.

Alan Hutson, PhD, a biostatistician at the Buffalo, N.Y.-based Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, was named to a four-year term as the chair of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer's Data Sharing and Big Data Task Force.

Up to one-half of readmissions from post-acute facilities back to hospitals are avoidable, according to B.J. Boyle, vice president and general manager of post-acute insights at PointClickCare.

Newark, N.J.-based Prudential Financial announced Sept. 6 an agreement to acquire Assurance IQ, a Bellevue, Wash.-based platform using advanced data analytics to manage consumers' health, life, Medigap and auto insurance options.

Cloudera, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based cloud services company, signed an agreement to acquire certain assets of Campbell, Calif.-based advanced analytics firm Arcadia Data.

As organizations' operations become more reliant on the gathering and analysis of massive amounts of data, they are increasingly using cloud computing to store that data, and transitioning to modernized data management platforms to integrate with the cloud.

As the executive in charge of medical informatics and clinical analytics at CommonSpirit Health, James Reichert, MD, PhD, is working to develop an analytics platform across the care continuum for 170 care sites within the Chicago-based health system.

Cisco announced Aug. 26 its intent to acquire CloudCherry, a Salt Lake City-based company offering the use of predictive analytics for customer experience management.

Less than a month after its initial public offering resulted in total proceeds of more than $200 million, Salt Lake City-based data analytics company Health Catalyst reported high double-digit growth for the second quarter of 2019.

Payers and providers plan to put their money toward predictive analytics, with a majority of them — 61 percent — expecting the investment to pay off, according to the 2019 Predictive Analytics in Health Care Trend Forecast survey conducted by the Society of Actuaries.

Experian announced on Aug. 8 that it has signed an agreement to acquire MyHealthDirect, the Nashville-based developer of a digital care coordination platform.

Although most hospital leaders are unfamiliar with the specifics of automated technologies for data management, at least half plan on investing in the tech within the next two years, according to a new report.

Progknowse, a Tysons, Va.-based company developing predictive analytics software for precision medicine, has partnered with three health systems to further refine the technology.

When compared with industries like banking and entertainment, healthcare's digital transformation journey seems to have just begun. Industries that have been successful in this revolution understand it requires technology, leadership, culture change, workflow adaptation, employee engagement and digitizing useful, valuable data.

In early July, UC Health announced the appointment of Michael Legg as vice president and the Cincinnati-based health system's first chief data and analytics officer.

Ciox Health, the Alpharetta, Ga.-based provider of the HealthSource clinical data analytics and management platform, announced on July 25 a $30 million equity investment led by Merck's Global Health Innovation Fund.

Health Catalyst, a Salt Lake City-based provider of data analytics services to healthcare organizations, raised the proposed size of its initial public offering on July 23, Renaissance Capital reports.

Phreesia, a New York City-based company developing patient intake software customized to a hospital's needs, went public on the New York Stock Exchange on July 18.