Recently, our team participated in an exciting and challenging “Hacking Healthcare” Hackathon focused on revolutionizing patient care for individuals with Cardio-Pulmonary Disease (COPD). COPD ranks as the third leading cause of death globally, with associated costs reaching a staggering $49 billion in 2020. This hackathon use case was driven by the urgent need for Healthcare Payors to enhance health outcomes, address cost-driving risk factors, and optimize reimbursement and network strategies from a value-based perspective.
Understanding the Challenge
The challenge presented to our hackers was a multifaceted task: to create a comprehensive patient profiling system specifically tailored for COPD patients under Medicare and Medicare Advantage. This system required sophisticated capabilities, including identifying high-risk patients based on multiple associated risk factors, incorporating crucial non-clinical factors (Social Determinants of Health – SDOH), assigning patients to appropriate risk categories, suggesting targeted interventions to prevent unnecessary hospital admissions, and facilitating improved coordination between patients and their healthcare providers through an intuitive mobile application.
Our Strategy
To tackle this ambitious challenge, our team adopted a strategic approach that leveraged cutting-edge technologies and collaborative teamwork:
- Team 1: Data Generation and Integration
This team spearheaded the creation of synthetic HL7 data sets customized to target SDOH-related COPD illnesses. Using GitLab projects, they meticulously crafted data sets that mimicked real-world scenarios, crucial for training and testing our profiling algorithms.
- Team 2: Data Preparation and Snowflake Integration
Responsible for preparing SDOH tables for seamless integration into Snowflake, this team ensured that our data was optimized and ready for consumption by our native application.
- Team 3: Snowflake Native Application Development
Focused on developing Snowpark containers within Snowflake, this team built the backbone of our native application. Their efforts were instrumental in ensuring data security and container efficiency, vital for processing and analyzing patient profiles.
Key Achievements
Over the course of the hackathon, our team achieved significant milestones:
- Integrated Data Pipeline: By leveraging GitLab for synthetic data generation and Snowflake for data integration, we established a robust data pipeline capable of handling complex healthcare data with efficiency and accuracy.
- SDOH-Centric Approach: Our emphasis on SDOH factors alongside clinical data underscored the importance of holistic patient profiling, acknowledging the diverse influences on health outcomes beyond medical treatments.
- Native Application Development: The creation of a user-friendly mobile application was a highlight of our project. This application empowered COPD patients to actively participate in their care journey by managing appointments, tracking medications, enrolling in care programs, and monitoring progress seamlessly.
Next Steps
While the hackathon provided us with a platform to showcase our innovation, our journey doesn’t end here. Moving forward, we envision refining our solution to address scalability and real-world deployment challenges. Collaborating closely with healthcare stakeholders, including payors and providers, we aim to translate our prototype into a transformative tool that enhances COPD patient care and outcomes.
Retrospective
Participating in this healthcare hackathon was both rewarding and enlightening. It reinforced the pivotal role of technology in driving positive change within the healthcare ecosystem. More importantly, it highlighted the power of teamwork, collaboration, and novel uses of data in tackling complex healthcare challenges.
As we look ahead, we remain committed to leveraging technology to create meaningful impacts on patient care. The experience has motivated us to continue pushing boundaries, pioneering innovative solutions that redefine the future of healthcare. We are grateful for this opportunity, extremely proud of our ‘hackers’, and excited about the possibilities that lie ahead in our journey to transform COPD patient care.
