Big data and analytics are, year in and year out, a mainstay of the health IT conference and HIMSS18 will not disappoint.

Hospital and IT professionals will find a range of education sessions for turning data into actionable information, predictive and prescriptive analytics, deploying machine learning algorithms, advancing pop health management initiatives, and maximizing operations, among others.

What follows is a roundup of highlights among the many analytics sessions at HIMSS18:

Analytic Collaboration Using Automated ML
Machine learning just might be the next big thing in analytics. The algorithms can help turn mountains of data in EHRs, billing and claims records, and clinical trials into predictions humans can use to improve outcomes, streamline operations and drive down costs.
Speaker: Igor Veksler, Data Scientist, DataRobot
When: 1:30-1:50 p.m. March 7
Where: Sands Hall G Booth 9900

Analytics in the Real World
This session description promises a “humorous yet thought-provoking,” look at how to bring the data-rich-but-information-poor healthcare sector up to speed with other industries when it comes to data literacy. And it will look into the so-called “Reporting Cycle of Doom,” and ways to move beyond it and define health literacy.
Speaker: Dalton Ruer, Sr. Healthcare Solutions Architect, Qlik
When: 11:30-11:50 a.m. March 6
Where: Sands Hall G Booth 9947

Integrating Population Analytics and the EHR Environment
The Lehigh Valley Health Network incentivizes doctors as part of a coordinated analytics strategy to serve some 157,000 lives under care management. Speakers will discuss how they integrated population analytics and their electronic health record software to engage physicians in quality improvement.
Speakers: Nina Taggart, Senior Medical Director of Population Health and Payer Relations, Lehigh Valley Health Networks; Sameera Ahmed, Manager, Clinical and Business Analytics, Populytics
When: 4-5 p.m. March 6
Where: Venetian Delfino 4002

Using Predictive Analytics to Save Lives
Johns Hopkins University and MITRE developed new technologies that apply machine learning and predictive analytics to clinical data to glean information for reducing medication errors, avoiding adverse events, and identifying mental health and substance abuse risk factors.
Speakers: Sybil Klaus, Neurotech/Informatics Principle, MITRE; James Fackler, Associate Professor in Anesthegeology and Critical Care, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
When: 4:30-4:50 p.m. March 6
Where: Sands Hall G Booth 10219

Beyond BI: Building a Rapid-Response Advanced Analytics Unit
Buying and deploying business intelligence tools is one thing. Actually leveraging that data to surpass descriptive analytics — looking at what happened and why — and move predictive and prescriptive analytics is something else entirely. Speakers will detail how a hospital established a rapid-response advanced analytics team based on data science and machine learning to deliver analysis to executives and clinical leaders.
Speaker: Jeremy Petch, Project Director, St. Michael's Hospital
When: 4–5 p.m. March 6
Where: Venetian Palazzo D

By the Numbers: Leveraging Your Clinical Analytics Data to Improve Patient Outcomes
Pagosa Springs Medical Center evaluated clinically-relevant key performance indicators about CVA, MI, Sepsis and Trauma within its EHR to improve the efficiency and safety of treatments. Speakers will explain how it achieved success along the way.
Speaker: Michelle Flemmings, Chief Medical Information Officer, Pagosa Springs Medical Center
When: 10–11 a.m. March 8
Where: Venetian Palazzo D

Securing Medication Use Analytics and Surveillance in the Cloud
Among healthcare entities embracing the cloud for security and other purposes, the Kansas City Veterans Health Administration) has implemented analytics and surveillance capabilities with an infrastructure-as-a-service model. Speakers will discuss how the cloud model improved clinic workflow care access and Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS) scores, as well as established a model for future analytic and surveillance work that reduces costs.
Speakers: Richard Schaefer, Manager of Clinical Dept/Lab Srv/Pharmacy, Kansas City VA Medical Center; Shauna Leonard, Chief, Pharmacy Service, Kansas City VA Medical Center
When: 2:30 - 3:30 p.m., March 7
Where: Venetian Marcello 4401

How Analytics Can Create a Culture of Continuous Improvement
Via several case studies, this hour will take a look at how Mission Health achieved a drop in readmissions and sepsis mortality along with an increase in sepsis detection, on-time surgery starts, hear failure assessments and did so while also reducing the time staff spent collecting data and preparing report by 64 percent.
Speaker: Chris DeRienzo, Chief Quality Officer, Mission Health
When: 4–5 p.m., March 8
Where: Venetian Palazzo D

How Data Analytics Reduces Nurse Leakage, Improves Care
Mercy Hospital saved $4.3 million in a year by deploying analytics to reduce nursing leakage by gaining greater visibility into scheduling gaps to reassign internal staff instead of defaulting to bringing in outside resources.

The speakers will detail technical challenges of bringing data from a SaaS application into Mercy’s data warehouse as well as change management challenges, including the human ones.
Speakers: Michael Gillen, Vice President of Operations, Mercy Hospital; Stacey Blankenship, Chief Nursing Officer, Mercy Hospital Jefferson
When: 10-11 a.m. March 7
Where: Venetian Palazzo D

Creating Value via Analytics and AI-Driven Interactive Radiology Reports
Two major medical centers looked at how radiological images and accompanying reports offer opportunities for improvement and implemented new feature to improve efficiency, generate structured data for business process analytics as well as population health and quality improvements.
Speakers: Cree Gaskin, Professor, Vice Chair, ACMIO, University of Virginia Health System; Les Folio, Lead CT Radiologist, National Institutes of Health
When: 4-5 p.m. March 7
Where: Venetian Murano 3304

How Data and Analytics Can Improve CV Quality and Outcomes
$75 million savings. Allina and its affiliate Minnesota Heart Institute managed that triumph by undertaking population health management techniques to reduce clinical variations, leverage an enterprise data warehouse and test new processes that improved outcomes. Official will describe how they did it, and outline the value of powerful data analytics in quality.
Speakers: Craig Strauss, Medical Director of Quality, Innovation and Outcomes, Minneapolis Heart Institute/Allina Health; Pam Rush, Clinical Program Director, Allina Health
When: 11:30a.m.-12:30p.m. March 7
Where: Las Vegas - Venetian Convention Center, Delfino 4004

Care Pathways and Data Analytics for Advancement of Healthcare
Digitizing data is a solid start for health systems. The next step is putting that data to work in real-time clinical workflows. Speakers will share insights about intelligent automation, clinical workflow optimization and precise execution required to improve both clinical and financial outcomes.
Speakers: Jack Ziffer, Chief Medical Officer, Baptist Health South Florida; Donald Kosiak, Chief Medical Officer, Leidos
When: 10-11 a.m. March 6
Where: Venetian Galileo 901

Clinical and Operational Excellence at the Cleveland Clinic
Self-service analytics? That’s right. The Cleveland Clinic taps visual analytics to empowers leaders, clinicians and business users. Systems analysts will describe how visual analytics can improve business and clinical processes — as well as improving decision making in the C-suite that ultimately streamlines ER throughput, cuts down on readmissions and improves patient care.
Speakers: Michael Mann, Lead Systems Analyst, Cleveland Clinic; Joan Thompson, Lead Business Intelligence Analyst, Cleveland Clinic
When: 1-2 p.m. March 7
Where: Venetian Lando 4301