Omer Awan, Chief Data and Digital Officer at Atrium Health, speaks with David Mariani, CTO, AtScale, about his journey in the health care industry, learning required skills, data in health care versus other sectors, data culture and ownership in healthcare, and incorporating the hub-and-spoke model for analytics.

Awan recalls how Cerner Corporation recruited him on campus. Referring to the start of the journey as an “accident,” he shares that initially, he was interested in pursuing accounting.

He shares his discoveries after being recruited. “I was fascinated by what technology could do in the health care space,” he says. “While I was doing my accounting, I thought, “You could do phenomenal things with technology and automate so many accounting rules and processes. But when I saw that, I was floored.”

He has worked in various health care organizations since then, including the Memorial Hermann health care system, the Northern Light health care system, and Navon Health. Awan served as Navon’s CIO before taking up his current role.

To become well-versed in software principles and to apply them successfully, he post-graduated in software engineering and business administration.

“Data is data regardless of the industry,” Awan says. So many health care data principles apply to the policies and strategies implemented outside the health care realm, too.  It just has a few more dimensions to it.”

Highlighting the importance of HIPAA, he states that they are responsible for safeguarding patients’ data as the custodians. Awan says that the organization prioritizes data analysis to take patient care to the next level so that the consumer experience of the patient is phenomenal.

Apart from the similarities, he notes, certain advancements are happening in the data space outside health care. He mentions that the AI/ML evolution is happening across health care at a slower pace. But the industry can learn from the advancements in other sectors such as banking, retail oil, and gas.

Data is critical in the health care industry because it drives information, and information drives outcomes that impact patients, Awan points out.

“We still have a long way to go, but it’s not where it used to be. Some of the advancements happening today in the health care industry with data are phenomenal,” he says. “The exponential growth of data requires a revolution in managing our data assets. Data has to be reviewed as a strategic asset to bring about data culture in a health care organization. This has to be supported via actions top-down.”

Awan states that small to midsize organizations have data and analytics teams to meet their data needs, but a larger organization like Atrium Health cannot sustain the same model. Awan urges elevating organizational data literacy by incorporating the hub-and-spoke model.

“The complexity of the data increases with the organization’s size and as the number of data sources grows.  Therefore, it’s important to have robust data governance in place to work out the data chaos,” he says. Awan emphasizes how every bit of data matters in health care, noting, “Inaccurate data here does not mean wrong ETA or imperfect banking experience; it impacts human lives.”

Awan then discusses how companies can implement the hub-and-spoke analytics model. It starts with developing a data skills inventory across organizations. Knowing where the team stands in its data literacy journey is fundamental.

“Once you have that, you can bring a force to these analytics communities so that you are not the only person propagating or elevating data literacy, but they’re learning from each other,” he notes.” 

The role of the hub, Awan maintains, is to ensure that the communities have access to data and standardized tools.

Finally, he shares that although the hub resides within IT, it works in alignment with clinical and business leaders. He believes hub-and-spoke is a good model for delivering the best of both worlds.

“We have all been in situations where you have more data requests than resources — the demand also far exceeds your capacity. Adding more resources to your hub doesn’t get you what you want. So, it is important to have a hybrid solution — which is hub-and-spoke,” Awan concludes.