Data Science

Data Science Research at West Health

Using Data Science and secure machine learning to power quantitative research on lowering costs and improving care for seniors.

Using Data Science to Address Healthcare Costs and Improved Care for Seniors


West Health Institute has developed substantial in-house, multi-disciplinary expertise in data-driven research and decision-making through its Data Science Team, to demonstrate improved care at a lower cost for a variety of key West Health’s initiatives.

Bringing together secure access to key healthcare-related data with analysis and visualization skills, West Health Data Science provides the full spectrum of data science services and technologies, from database security and management to machine learning and data visualization.

The Data Science Team extracts, transforms, merges, and loads data sources to create descriptive and predictive models of care for all aspects of aging-related research through customized HIPAA-compliant services. West Health Data Science provides a unique, end-to-end, quantitative perspective on West Health’s mission to lower healthcare costs to help the nation’s seniors age successfully.

By collaborating with leading organizations like UC San Diego Health and the Geriatric Emergency Department Collaborative, West Health Data Science has powered innovative healthcare research into areas like home-based healthcare for seniors and improving emergency geriatric emergency care, resulting in publications and presentations in leading journals and professional conferences.

Please see below for technical information about the Data Science Team and to learn more about how you and your organization can collaborate with them to address healthcare costs and improve care for our nation’s seniors.

The Mission of Data Science at West Health


Provide secure, timely, and innovative Data Science support for West Health researchers and collaborators to help lower the cost of healthcare to enable successful aging.

West Health Data Science provides a unique integrated stack of services and technologies that enable deep quantitative perspectives and research on the institute’s mission.

Manuscripts & Presentations


Kinosian, B, Kronick, R, Norman, G, Kent, T, Kubisiak, J.  (2018). Independence at home qualified elders who receive home based primary care have higher costs than all IAH-Qualified Medicare beneficiaries. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, Vol 66 (Suppl S2), S3.

Kinosian, B, Kronick, R, Norman, G, Kent, T, Kubisiak, J.  (2018). Home based primary care reduces hospitalizations to produce savings in the independence at home (IAH) demonstration. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, Vol 66 (Suppl S2), S166.

Lesser, A., Israni, J., Kent, T. & Ko, K.J. (2018, e-pub ahead of print). Association between physical therapy in the emergency department and emergency department revisits for older adult fallers: A nationally representative analysis. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

Israni J, Lesser A, Kent T. & Ko, K.J. (2018). Delirium as a predictor of mortality in US Medicare beneficiaries discharged from the emergency department: a national claims-level analysis up to 12 months. BMJ Open, 8:e021258. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2017-021258

Kent, T., Lesser, A., Howard, J., Israni, J. & Ko, K.J. (May, 2018). 30-day emergency department revisit rates among Medicare beneficiaries with dementia. Oral Presentation at the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine annual meeting. Indianapolis, IN.

Israni, J., Lesser, A., Kent, T. & Ko, K.J. (May, 2018). Utilizing business intelligence (BI) tools in healthcare analytics. Poster presented at the American Medication Informatics Association Clinical Informatics Conference, Scottsdale, AZ.