“That’s A LOT of open analyst positions! Why so many?”

Usually when I post positions for my team, especially when I enumerate the volume, one of the first questions I’m asked is “Why so many?” The implication is that either I’m building a bench of candidates, or that perhaps my entire team won the lottery. As much as my team would love the lottery scenario, neither is true. The real reasons are actually quite exciting especially when you consider that most healthcare employers have limited budgets that tend to price skilled and experienced professionals out of the market.

Right-Sizing the team

How many people have heard this phrase used in a way that didn’t strike fear into the hearts of staff members? At Presbyterian, we’ve found a way. 

We realized when we formed the Analytic Organization that Presbyterian was similar to many other healthcare organizations in that analytics was underutilized, underfunded, and wasn’t working with the best possible tools in the market. Presbyterian realized that if we were to serve our patients and members better than anyone else in the market that we had to make an investment in all three aspects of analytics- People, Process, and Technology. Almost 2 years on and we’ve made great strides. New technologies, new data, and innovative new approaches to patient care that in some cases are truly on the ‘bleeding edge’ of our industry. 

Now that the foundational work is done, it’s time to bring on new people that are prepared to take advantage of all the new capabilities we have available to staff. 

The Presbyterian Healthcare Services Analytic Organization has 28 open seats today, nearly all are new positions! 

Hiring new staff, budgeting for growth in the coming year, and expanding our internship programs represent a huge investment in analytics and commitment to innovation by Pres. Right sizing isn’t a euphemism for downsizing here at Pres because we’re growing!

Organic Growth in New Mexico

Presbyterian has served New Mexico for 109 years, and that’s no small feat! New Mexico is a challenging healthcare environment with a large rural population and all of the same conditions you see in more populated areas. We’re tasked with providing the same (or better) level of exceptional care one can get in areas with many times our population and funding, and we’ve succeeded doing so for over a century. Some of this is because of our scrappy nature. Some of it is our unwavering focus on what we call our Triple Aim of better health, exceptional experience, and cost leadership. One more way we do that is through innovation! We use technology to simplify our work and data to drive our decision making process. The end result is less waste, less risk, and more budget flexibility to bring in the best people and tools available on the market. 

We also accomplish this by growing in a smart way. For example, as an integrated health system we leverage our integration to better serve patients in ways that neither an independent insurance carrier, medical group, or hospital could. Another way is we understand how populations change and grow over time in New Mexico, and we’re able to proactively drive towards the needs of New Mexico for years to come. The best example of this is our new Presbyterian Santa Fe Medical Center- the 9th hospital in New Mexico for Presbyterian, and one of very few ground-up hospital builds in the country! 

Impending growth out of state

Presbyterian recognizes that we have a great value story in the community. Our focus on innovation and truly improving patients’ lives as well as the objective outcomes that demonstrate we’re making a difference has led other healthcare organizations to seek us out. We regularly work with organizations across the country to share our story and our approach in the belief that shared knowledge leads to better health.

In some cases our peers in the healthcare industry have invited us to work with them in a greatly expanded role as partners in new ventures. One such group in North Carolina has opened new opportunities for Presbyterian to expand outside of New Mexico as they grow their analytic and patient care capabilities with our support. They aren't alone either; Presbyterian is working with several organizations across the country to share our successful innovation model to bring healthcare to several communities. All of these new partnerships will necessitate additional staff as well!

Pivot towards ‘True Analytics’

Ask any analyst what one of their biggest frustrations are, and somewhere on that list you’re going to hear a version of “my customers don’t differentiate reporting and analysis”. It’s an understandable problem when you consider our customers are predominantly healthcare providers and business professionals. It’s a nuance that customers don’t always understand and is challenging to explain in a way that doesn’t involve geeking out a little. 

We like to consider reporting as an aspect of the analytic evolution solidly in the “descriptive” sense. Reporting is about what happened, and in some cases it’s about why an event happened. It is entirely retrospective. It’s also very beholden to changing business rules, data governance concerns, and what we’ve dubbed “data archaeology”. Said another way, reporting is where analysts begin, and hope to grow beyond as quickly as possible. 

While reporting will never go away and will remain a very important part of the day to day operations of our industry, there’s no reason it has to be painful to customers OR analysts. With advanced technology there’s less reason than ever to rely upon highly skilled analysts to administer these reports. That’s where Presbyterian’s new analytic approach comes in.

We work to relegate descriptive analytics such as reporting to our “On Demand Analytics” platforms. These are managed platforms in several specialty areas that allow our analysts to safely and securely democratize data and our internal customers to have the answers they need available to them independently. No more service ticket black hole, no more weeks or months waiting for your answer. You’re able to see what you need when you need it from your desk or mobile device. 

This allows the Analytic Organization to focus on the other two pillars of analytics- predictive and prescriptive analytics. We’re pivoting towards more true analytics and asking our team to focus on the questions of “what likely will happen” and “what should we do about it”. We're focusing on forward looking analytics, leveraging best in class technology, wielded by the best analysts in the country.

We need you!

Now that you understand why we need so many people, now is your chance.   It doesn’t matter if your experience is in Managed Care, Hospitals, Medical Groups, Technology, or other healthcare related entities. We have openings in all of those areas. I’ve listed just some of the Analytic Organization openings we have today in the image. 

Do you want to explore Presbyterian? More importantly, do you want to be part of the next generation of healthcare integration and the advancement of healthcare analytics? 

Feel free to send your resume to [email protected] or apply on our website at https://www.phs.org/careers. I look forward to sharing our future with you!