Precision Driven Health: Achieving Better Health Through Data Science

SECTOR UPDATE - Precision Driven Health

Health data science offers the power to significantly improve health outcomes for the people of Aotearoa New Zealand - and an award-winning partnership is already making strong steps to realise this potential.

Precision Driven Health (PDH) is an unincorporated joint venture between Orion Health, Te Whatu Ora Waitematā and Waipapa Taumata Rau - the University of Auckland which commenced in 2016.

The PDH partnership aims to improve the health of New Zealanders and their whānau through world-leading data science research in precision health, with a new PDH report, Better Health Through Data Science, highlighting the partnership’s strong progress towards meeting this goal.

Better Health Through Data Science
Kevin Ross, PDH’s Chief Executive Officer, says the developing field of precision health is leading the healthcare sector towards “the ability to take into account every piece of data known about someone, in order to give them exactly what they need.”

“There’s a nirvana that precision health is aiming for: a patient comes to you; you've got access to all of the data about them; and you use that to both specifically give them the advice that they need, and not waste time and resources on things that will clearly not work for them. The ‘precision’ piece is about being quite specific.”

“Better Health Through Data Science highlights the progress towards precision health that have resulted from this unique partnership, bringing together high-performing people and organisations, to focus on common goals.”

The PDH partnership has developed precision medicine models, tools and algorithms focused on improving screening, triaging patients and surgery, in an attempt to bring greater precision into treatment. It also seeks to increase data science capability in New Zealand’s health sector and encourage innovation in the use of health data.

To date, PDH has helped to support over 300 researchers on more than 100 research projects involving over 45 organisations, with Better Health Through Data Science outlining some of the outcomes and lessons from this research programme.

A ‘unique partnership’
Better Health Through Data Science details successes that PDH has facilitated since 2016, including:

• PDH’s vision for precision healthcare of delivering the right care, to the right person, at the right time through data science, including how it’s being applied in New Zealand, and what the PDH partnership hopes to achieve by pursuing it
• Technical advancements enabled through the PDH partnership, which has helped develop data science knowledge and techniques which are tuned to New Zealand’s unique characteristics - such as nzRISK, an easy-to-use online risk calculator that allows for a more informed decision-making process
• Developing capability for PDH’s partners and academics, and New Zealand’s overall health data science capability, including supporting New Zealand companies to invest in capability in data science research and development
• Engaging approaches that the PDH partnership has supported, including holistic, ethical research that will have a meaningful impact and deliver an equitable, wider social good
• Putting research into practise, translating research ideas into real-world use that range from a tool to de-identify health data to a platform developed to evaluate and host models and algorithms, providing a central and secure piece of infrastructure which has also been used to support New Zealand’s COVID-19 pandemic response.
  

Kevin Ross says: “New Zealanders are far more informed and far more engaged with their health data than they’ve ever been, and will push the sector to modernise its approach to areas such as data sharing, and the use of artificial intelligence.

“At a time when health data science is just starting to move from potential to reality, people throughout society are recognising the positive and negative impacts of collecting, analysing and utilising personal health data for personalised health care.

“We have the opportunity to further embed precision health in our health system, our research ecosystem, and our digital health industry.

“The PDH partnership has created a strong platform for health data science in Aotearoa New Zealand. The opportunity to continue to invest in this area will help to deliver health outcomes for citizens and economic growth for the country that will benefit future generations.”

Download the report

Source: Precision Driven Health media release

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