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Humana receives Analytics Leadership Award from IU Kelley School of Business

Winning project addressed seniors' fall risk, a frequent cause of serious injuries

• Oct. 30, 2015

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business recognized Humana Inc., one of the nation’s leading health and well-being companies, with its Analytics Leadership Award.

Humana received the award for developing a comprehensive, novel predictive model that identifies individuals at greatest risk for falls.

The award is presented to the winners of a competition conducted by the school’s Institute for Business Analytics. It promotes innovative adoption of analytics within corporations. Judges were looking for a project that matches analytical rigor with practical and beneficial applications for the company and its clients.

“We are excited to recognize the successful journey of our corporate partners in applying analytics for a myriad of business applications,” said Ash Soni, executive associate dean for academic programs and a professor of operations and decision technologies at Kelley. “These projects reflect the kind of education the Kelley School strives for: applying strong quantitative skills for solving real business problems.”

The Analytics Leadership Award was created to highlight today’s important and rapid adoption of sophisticated analytics for improving productivity, increasing profits, reducing costs, managing risks and creating a competitive advantage for organizations worldwide.

Curt Hinrichs, senior manager for global academic marketing at SAS Institute Inc., a leader in business analytics software and services, chaired the award evaluation committee.

“The Analytics Leadership Award recognizes excellence in the effective application of advanced analytic methods as well as their successful implementation and impact,” Hinrichs said. “The nominations this year represented a wide range of applications and included important quality-of-life problems and others that brought about significant transformational changes in their organizations. 

“The award committee was challenged to name but one winner among the impressive lineup of nominations,” he added. “This year’s winner stood out as a good example of how innovative uses of analytics can hit the sweet spot, by dramatically improving the lives and safety of their customers along with significant and measurable bottom-line improvements in the business.”

Diana Cusano, director of population health in the clinical analytics organization at Humana, the nation's second-largest provider of Medicare Advantage benefits, said the winning project addresses an important issue facing seniors and their families.

“Falls are the leading factor for both fatal and non-fatal injuries for our seniors, with a third of our senior population experiencing a fall every year,” Cusano said. “The predictive model is a key driver of interventions to reduce the incidences and consequences of falls, addressing a major health risk for our seniors.”

The project, “Predictive Model-Based Identification and Outreach for Seniors at the Risk of Falling,” was led by Vipin Gopal, enterprise vice president of clinical analytics, and Harpreet Singh, manager of predictive modeling.

C.H. Robinson, one of the world's largest third-party logistics providers, was the runner-up in the competition for its project, “The Wiz Reporting Suite 1.0: Activity-based P&L strategic workflow,” led by Mike Duffey, business analyst at C.H. Robinson.

“The ascent of analytics has paved the way for organizations to engage in rich conversations, helping them understand more about a customer’s business and support their goals,” Duffey said.

Nominations were sought from teams that played a leadership role in an analytics initiative in the past three years. They were evaluated by a committee composed of Hinrichs; Michael Pickett, vice president of business development and partner ecosystems, Talend; Dion Rudnicki, vice president of business development, global public sector, sales and distribution, IBM Corp.; and Bill Russell, executive vice president, Allegient LLC.

Founded in 2011, the Institute for Business Analytics supports academic programs that prepare students to solve business problems using analytics; develops corporate partnerships that shape the school's understanding of analytics; and helps companies tap into Kelley's talent. It also supports cross-disciplinary research by faculty and organizes seminars, conferences and data competitions.

These activities will include the Kelley Forum on Marketing Analytics on Nov. 6 and the Kelley Forum on Supply Chain Analytics on Nov. 20. Both events will be from 8:15 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the Godfrey Graduate and Executive Education Center, 1275 E. 10th St.

The institute is co-directed by Vijay Khatri, associate professor of information systems and the Arthur M. Weimer Faculty Fellow, and Frank Acito, also a professor of marketing and the Max Barney Distinguished Teaching Fellow.

Related Links

• IU Kelley School of Business