PCIC is excited to announce a partnership with United Way of Greater Houston/ 211 (UWGH) to build the technology and data-sharing infrastructure for the Integrated Client Journey (ICJ) program.

Sr. Data Analyst, Betty Li Gai, and Data Science Intern, Jacky Chan, recently presented recent community data mapping efforts at Rice University’s virtual 2020 Ken Kennedy Institute Data Science Conference. This year’s conference focused on the role of data analysis and computer processing in community relief efforts aimed at combatting COVID-19.

PCIC has partnered with Lone Star Justice Alliance (LSJA), a nonprofit legal organization whose mission is to improve the lives of emerging adults (18-24 years old) in the justice system through utilization of developmentally appropriate responses to behavior, treating emerging adults with equity and dignity to promote resilience, conserve costs, and increase public safety. PCIC will provide a platform to support their “Transformative Justice” and “End Juvenile Life Sentences” programs, which implement innovative strategies for maximizing the supports and services needed to keep emerging adults in the community where their needs are better met at a lower cost to the state. Through targeted outreach, public awareness campaigns, and other organizing activities, LSJA’s community programs engage emerging adults and their families to promote the development of positive outcomes among Texas emerging adults.

In May 2020, leadership from PCIC, Humana and the University of Houston Community Health Worker Initiative (UH CHWI) presented an innovative, collaborative model of care at the virtual Collective Impact Forum. In the presentation, Tray Cockerell (Humana), Kallol Mahata (PCIC), and Dona Stelzig (UH CHW) spoke about their project’s goals and their organizations’ shared vision for revitalizing healthcare systems and combating current barriers to quality treatment.

PCIC’s board chair, Dr. David Buck, along with Dr. Stephanie Barker and Dr. Nick Maguire from the University of Southampton (a partner of PCIC), presented the “Values-Based Engagement in Healthcare” to an audience of international healthcare professionals at the fifteenth annual Street Medicine Institute Symposium, in Pittsburg, PA.

No way! Here’s why.

Patients with complex needs often require services from a variety of social, medical and government benefit agencies. While there are some systems in place to coordinate referrals between providers, some key issues remain.

Homa Koohi, B.Sc in EE, MBA, is a MPA/ID candidate at Harvard Kennedy School of Government and a current intern of IMAGO Global Grassroots.

Homa spent her summer collaborating with PCIC to develop structured models to inform PCIC’s strategic decision making in the upcoming year.

We interviewed her to share the scope and application of her work. She hopes to continue working with PCIC as part of her capstone project for the Kennedy School.

The PCIC technology division has grown from humble beginnings – from a small home office in our co-founder's house to a fully functional technology, media and data management initiative, spanning both our Dallas and Houston offices.

When we met Ms. Barbara back in November, her goal was to spend more time with her grandchildren, ages nine and eleven.

Several decades ago, Ms. Susan* made the difficult decision to undergo one of the first gastric bypass surgeries, which was supposed to drastically improve her quality of life. Instead, due to unforeseen complications, she was left with significant scar tissue.

"Why do you find your work at PCIC exceptionally rewarding?"

This great question was posed to me by several different candidates whom I was interviewing for a new data analyst position at PCIC. While my immediate answer was honest and concise – that I enjoy problem solving, developing databases, and creating innovative data solutions – I didn’t feel that it fully encapsulated what makes PCIC a special place to work.

When our intervention team met Ms. Adams (pseudonym), she was diligently managing her complex health regimen, which included an overwhelming 30+ prescriptions per day. Each new referral for nausea or chronic pain resulted in another prescription, rather than a solution.

Over the last several decades, healthcare improvement efforts have focused on improving health outcomes while reducing healthcare costs. One patient population in particular garners much attention in these efforts: High-Need, High-Cost (HNHC) patients. HNHC patients are often identified by a frequently cited statistic – 5% of the U.S. population who generates 50% of annual healthcare spending.

If so, you might be curious how PCIC has responded to them. If not, it may be time to learn how your organization could have been affected, and what you can do to protect yourself against future software vulnerabilities.

Our data analyst recently attended the Putting Care at the Center Conference in Los Angeles, CA. She presented a poster about PCIC’s interventions with High-Need, High-Cost patients, and discussed the importance of values-based care with fellow participants. Below are takeaways from our interview with her after she returned.

By Li Gai, Data Analyst at PCIC.

An Interview with our Medical Social Worker, Kristy Gerschefske. Visit our teams screen to read more about her.

We see machine learning applied in a lot of business these days, from optimal search engine results to shopping recommendations. When IBM Watson won “Jeopardy!” against humans, it marked the beginning of a new era in artificial intelligence, where machines don’t just pull answers from a vast set of available resources but can analyze and process the information within a really short period of time. The healthcare industry is no stranger to machine learning. For example, Google’s machine learning algorithm is now detecting breast cancer with an 89% accuracy, when compared to 73% for a pathologist.

As a care coordinator, my daily conversations with clients usually revolve around care management – following up on clinic referrals, medication management, disease management education, etc. However, many of our recent conversations have centered on their anxieties about the future of Medicaid. Some of our clients are so anxious that even the simple act of watching news coverage about Medicaid reform can incite a panic attack.

Most PCIC clients have lived through traumatic experiences or are burdened with stressful situations and environments. Add these factors to their multiple complex illnesses. Unfortunately, some mental illnesses are better addressed outside of the Emergency Room. We teach our clients to recognize the importance of mental health and how it can affect physical well-being, and we encourage them to seek help if needed.

Computer security is the act of protecting computer systems from theft or damage to hardware, software or information, and disruption or misdirection of their services. Many systems are under constant threat of hacking, ranging from individual mobile phones to large establishments. In this post, we will focus on one of the methods used to protect sensitive data – Authentication.

PCIC works with clients who often have multiple unmanaged chronic physical illnesses, as Andy explained in a previous blog post. Oftentimes, these chronic physical illnesses are also linked to mental health conditions such as anxiety, panic attacks, and depression. To easily see the correlation between the two, let’s take a recent example from one of our clients:

"Data" is a critical piece of PCIC's day-to-day operation and is the foundation for all our analysis work. In this article, we take a look at one way to classify it – by the degree of organization of the data.

A disproportionate number of patients who suffer from severe mental illnesses (SMI) such as bipolar or schizophrenia rely on the ER for care. The PCIC intervention team strives to help improve the overall health of these patients by coordinating their care.

What is DevOps? It's what started as a buzzword and quickly transformed into a movement. DevOps is the union of development and operation teams at every step of the work cycle. DevOps originated as a means to break down walls that hinder production. Previously, software development teams would work separate from operations teams. This allowed for issues with long deployment cycles and inflexibility. Now with the merge of development and operations, it has evolved into a culture promoting collaboration and autonomy.

Imagine being so sick that you visit the emergency room at least ten times or are admitted to a hospital at least four times within a single year. This extreme utilization, combined with at least two chronic health conditions, meets the eligibility requirements for PCIC’s intensive case management program. However, many of our clients far exceed these requirements.

Back in 2004, I started working on a project to build the first web based electronic medical record system in the country, with Jim Turley, RN, PhD – an amazing bioinformatics expert and Dr. Buck (David) – who was then the President at HealthCare for the Homeless - Houston. This was part of my graduate school thesis work, trying to figure out workflow models and data entry flows that worked best for street outreach.