Dear HDI members,
As I take my position as President of our institute, I want to invite you all to consider what we can do to go further together, so that we can make the Healthcare Data Institute a leading and long-lasting think tank on Big Data in the health sector. Of course, we can pride ourselves for the great success we had in those past two years. But the greatest challenges are ahead of us. And I think the biggest and most urgent one is to take our value proposition to the next level. Here’s why and how we could achieve this.
“Within just over two years, the HDI has established itself in the landscape of healthcare analytics and Big Data in France”.
Over the past two years, we have established the HDI in the French healthcare community. Not only did we create a large and international network of experts, but we also disseminated qualitative knowledge on how to unlock the full potential of data in the health sector. Since 2015, our membership has grown from just a handful of initial members to more than 60 today. We also did a great job in producing and spreading expert knowledge, with the publication of more than 30 expert documents and 2 White papers (widely distributed). Not to forget the 8 working groups we set up and animated, and the 14 successful conferences we organized. In 2016, the HDI Day, one of our main public events, reached 120 attendees, with a satisfaction rate of 85%.
As you know, the HDI has also substantially increased its online presence, with now more than 1,000 monthly visitors on our website, more than 1,000 followers on Twitter and a brand new Linkedin page.
“Unleashing the full value of data in healthcare.”
While members represent many different stakeholders in the broad healthcare ecosystem, I believe that one thing unites us: the fundamental belief that data in healthcare is an immense source of quality and value for citizens, healthcare systems and economies, and that more needs to be done to unleash its full value. Doing so will also help develop France’s leadership in data provision and services.
There are at least three ways in which the HDI aims at contributing to this:
- Bring fact-based, objective and insightful perspectives, working on critical issues and supporting members in deciphering key evolutions of the environment;
- Foster connections among members who represent a broad array of stakeholders, helping to connect relevant resources with needs, and accelerating concrete use cases;
- Provide a neutral forum of constructive dialogue and the emergence of new initiatives, while also becoming a point of reference for external stakeholders.
Some key levers can still be pulled to fulfil our ambition, from the expansion of available data (both in collection and accessibility) and the development of use cases (of transparency, increased accountability), to a reflection on regulation tools.
“As the newly appointed President of the HDI, my goal is to expand our impact and better serve our purpose and our member community”
Although we already put in place several publications and events (formal and informal), we need to consider what to do in order to go further. We need to continue raising the bar in terms of the quality and insightfulness of our publications, and we will systematically think about how we expand what we do. Many options exist and we need, over the next few weeks, to decide which ones we will pursue. For instance, establishing a structured “knowledge directory of members”, publishing a yearly “HDI landmark study” (such as a barometer), publishing the newsletter externally, reinforcing our visibility in the press…
I am looking forward to working with you all to make the Healthcare Data Institute the reference on Big Data in healthcare.
In order to focus on what makes most sense to you, we will be launching shortly a small survey to take your input on how things have worked thus far, and what new services and initiatives would make most sense for you. Stay tuned !
Thomas London
President of the Healthcare Data Institute