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Usvyat heads a diverse team of epidemiologists, computer scientists, engineers, and pharmacologists at Fresenius Medical Care. “The role of my team is to introduce innovative, data-based solutions to every corner of our organization,” he says. “We search for patterns in our data that we can translate into useful and practicable insights for medical staff.” Big data specialists use computer algorithms to describe and predict the course of kidney disease and change its direction for the better. The experts describe these three different approaches as descriptive, predictive and prescriptive analyses.
Usvyat’s team can draw on a vast pool of data: Fresenius Medical Care has access to data worldwide from more than 1.9 million dialysis patients, 1.7 billion laboratory tests and 500 million completed dialysis treatments. However, the data scientists analyze not only traditional health care data, but also plenty of other information, such as weather forecasts, demographic data and traffic data. “It may not seem so at first, but all of this data can be valuable for us,” says Usvyat. The computers scour the sprawling data sets for recurring patterns, striking discrepancies or previously unknown correlations.
But the data are not only useful for clinical forecasts, they also help in organizational matters: For example, traffic data can be used to improve route planning for clinic or home visits to patients, and the data analysts can use weather data to identify patients who are unlikely to attend their next dialysis appointment on account of adverse weather conditions in their area. Data on a patient’s living situation can also be used to establish whether home dialysis might be a reasonable treatment option for them.
So far, Usvyat’s team has primarily worked with data from North America. But similar approaches are used in other regions, too, including Asia-Pacific and Europe, as well as other Fresenius Medical Care functions such as Global Research and Development and Global Manufacturing, Quality and Supply.
The Global Medical Office (GMO) was established to connect specialists and research projects around the world, with the aim of allowing experts to collaborate more closely across national borders, learn from each other, and in this way jointly drive clinical innovation and translate it into real practical applications. “This opens up promising new opportunities for us,” Usvyat is convinced. His team is part of the GMO.
The GMO is headed by Franklin W. Maddux, MD, who has been Chief Medical Officer at Fresenius Medical Care North America for many years. He was appointed to the Management Board as Global Chief Medical Officer as of the beginning of 2020. The inclusion of this position in the Management Board highlights Fresenius Medical Care’s understanding of medical science at a global level as a key factor for success. The GMO’s field of activity goes far beyond the use of advanced analytics and big data in dialysis – for example, the experts also look at the healing potential of regenerative medicine and the clinical development of effective drugs for kidney patients. They intend to use the knowledge and experience gained from clinical research around the world more effectively. Ultimately, the aim is to achieve the best possible treatment outcome for the patient.
Fresenius Medical Care established the Global Medical Office in March 2019 to enhance cooperation and exchange medical knowledge throughout the Company and thus achieve high-quality outcomes for patients worldwide. By adding the Global Chief Medical Officer to the Management Board, Fresenius Medical Care is underlining its commitment to applying clinical science at an ever-higher level.
“In terms of big data, this means above all a highly complex situation with regard to the availability of data,” he adds. Health care data and demographic information are collected, structured, and organized differently in every region. Moreover, the team has to consider various legal requirements when working on cross-border projects.