By Natthawut Max Adulyanukosol
PhD Student, Carolina Health Informatics Program
Hello CHIP friends,
I’d like to share with you the experience from HDAA 2024, which I participated in 9/16–19. It’s a healthcare industry conference, not an academic conference like AMIA. Having said that, it offers great insights into how professionals in the fields work and what is expected from us as future health informatics specialists.
HDAA stands for Healthcare Data Analytics Association, a network of data professionals working in hospitals across the US. They have an annual conference every year, and this year, it was held by UNC Health at our Friday Conference Center, Chapel Hill.
The 4-day conference kicked off with an executive summit. Data leaders from across the US shared insights on communicating the value of data teams to hospitals, data governance, and fostering a data & analytics culture. Key takeaways: If you're not deliberate about your culture, it will happen to you - potentially resulting in subpar data governance and underdelivered value. Data governance is often misunderstood; focus on the problems it solves, like ensuring good training data for AI models.
Day two marked the official kick-off with over 300 attendees. Edward Marx, from Cleveland Clinic, emphasized the importance of patient experience in care services and how data can pinpoint areas for improvement. The pace then intensified with breakout sessions, posters, and roundtables. Several sessions paid interest to AI governance, particularly regarding bias and accountability. The Observational Medical Outcomes Partnership (OMOP) Common Data Model (CDM) gained a lot of attention at the conference, as the tool to standardize EHR data for analytics and research.
Day three maintained the momentum. The morning keynote panel united technologists and clinicians, converging on AI as a socio-technical, not just technical, challenge. Automation and AI can improve patient and colleague lives, but responsible use is crucial. Embrace change, challenge norms, and focus on skills development to thrive in this new era. Our keynote speaker, Rachini Moosavi, Chief Analytics Officer at UNC Health, then inspired us with insights on building a Dream team, emphasizing Data products, Reimagined solutions, Empathy, Analytics solutions management, and My skills as key components. The day concluded with more presentations, including UNC professors Sean Sylvia and Junier Oliva’s team showcasing their AI work on surfacing critical decision-making information from OMOP for clinicians.
The final day began with an educator panel exploring how AI is reshaping future skill preparation. UNC Professor Stan Ahalt and the panel encouraged further partnerships between academics and industry, where students would learn through real, practical projects and problems faced by the hospitals. Everyone nodded in acceptance. More presentations were followed.
I asked Claude AI to summarize all sessions’ descriptions and got the following key themes from the conference, which I have validated to be accurate:
- AI & Machine Learning: Sessions explored using AI for clinical decision support, automating chart abstraction, and enhancing surgery data analysis. Tools like OpenAI's GPT models were highlighted for their potential in healthcare.
- Data Platforms: Epic was frequently mentioned as a key data source, with several presentations focusing on maximizing value from Epic Signals and other Epic data. Microsoft Fabric and Azure Databricks were featured in talks about modernizing data infrastructure.
- Visualization Tools: Tableau and Power BI were prominent, with sessions on creating effective dashboards and implementing write-back capabilities in Tableau.
- Data Standards: The OMOP Common Data Model was discussed in the context of standardizing data for research and analytics.
- Data Literacy & Governance: Talks highlighted strategies for building data literacy programs and establishing effective data governance.
- Health Equity: Presentations examined using data to address health disparities and improve equitable care delivery.
- Self-Service Analytics: Several talks focused on empowering clinicians and staff with self-service analytics tools.
- Predictive Analytics: Innovative uses of predictive modeling were featured, including forecasting length of stay using tools like XGBoost and LSTM neural networks.
- Operational Excellence: Analytics applications for improving efficiency, quality, and financial performance were highlighted, often leveraging Epic and other EHR data.
- Talent Development: Discussions centered on building analytics talent pipelines and fostering data skills across organizations.
- Patient-Reported Outcomes: Talks examined collecting and analyzing patient-reported outcome measures, with REDCap mentioned as a tool for managing this data.
- Marketing Analytics: Sessions explored using analytics to optimize healthcare marketing and measure ROI.
- GIS in Healthcare: Geographic Information Systems were presented as valuable tools for analyzing healthcare access and equity.
You may also check #HDAA2024 on LinkedIn for more insights from the conference.
The conference showcased how leading healthcare organizations are harnessing the power of data and modern analytics tools to drive clinical, operational and financial improvements. Networking events and roundtable discussions provided valuable opportunities for analytics leaders to share challenges and best practices around implementing and optimizing these technologies.
While the conference is industry-focused, it also accepts poster and podium presentations, particularly those that focus on implementation and execution of data analytics, AI, and governance, rather than research. If you have already implemented your work in healthcare settings, you can begin submitting early in the calendar year. Please stay updated at https://www.hda2.org/ and follow Healthcare Data Analytics Association on LinkedIn. However, please note that the registration fee is significantly higher than an academic conference, with this year’s fee being $1,300. They might have scholarships for students, so prepare your great work in advance. (I volunteered as an event photographer and was fortunate that they waived the fees for me).
Overall, it was an incredible experience for me to witness the analytics in action from various viewpoints and through different lenses. (Pun intended; as I shot thousands of photos there.) Everyone was incredibly friendly and welcoming, and would help expand your network in the job market. I recommend that you should join their next conference being held by Vanderbilt Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee!
