title: Strategic analytics: towards fully embedding evidence in healthcare decision-making.
abstract: Cancer Care Ontario (CCO) has implemented multiple information technology solutions and collected health-system data to support its programs. There is now an opportunity to leverage these data and perform advanced end-to-end analytics that inform decisions around improving health-system performance. In 2014, CCO engaged in an extensive assessment of its current data capacity and capability, with the intent to drive increased use of data for evidence-based decision-making. The breadth and volume of data at CCO uniquely places the organization to contribute to not only system-wide operational reporting, but more advanced modelling of current and future state system management and planning. In 2012, CCO established a strategic analytics practice to assist the agency's programs contextualize and inform key business decisions and to provide support through innovative predictive analytics solutions. This paper describes the organizational structure, services and supporting operations that have enabled progress to date, and discusses the next steps towards the vision of embedding evidence fully into healthcare decision-making.
authors.affiliation: Vice-President of Analytics and Informatics at CCO. He is active in the academic community, holding a faculty appointment as Adjunct Professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto. He has also been a member of several healthcare committees including: President, Association of Public Health Epidemiologists in Ontario; Provincial Co-Chair, Integrated Public Health Information System (iPHIS); National Chair, Pan-Canadian Public Health Epidemiologists' Network; and Executive Board Member, Communicable Diseases Surveillance Network. Jason holds a Master of Health Science in Community Health and Epidemiology from the University of Toronto as well as a BASc in Occupational and Public Health from Ryerson University and an Honours BSc in Statistics and Psychology from York University.
authors.forename: Jason
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Garay
authors.affiliation: Manager working in CCO's Privacy and Access Office (PAO). She is a lawyer by training and most of her work consists of drafting legal agreements with respect to the sharing of data between institutions, leading negotiations between parties, advising CCO business programs with respect to risk management and providing strategic advice to CCO on issues related to privacy law.
authors.forename: Rosario
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Cartagena
authors.affiliation: Senior Methodologist and the Acting Senior Manager in the Strategic Analytics Team at CCO. He has helped establish the Strategic Analytics portfolio, and the development of the orthopaedic wait list management tool for LHINs, dialysis capacity planning model for the ORN, and the oncologist planning model for the cancer models of care initiative.
authors.forename: Ali Vahit
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Esensoy
authors.affiliation: Acting Director within CCO's Analytics Department. She manages the Strategic Analytics practice, leveraging her experience in project management, client relations and analytics.
authors.forename: Kiren
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Handa
authors.affiliation: Senior Manager, Evidence and Information in the Evaluation and Reporting team of Cancer Screening at CCO. Eli has care and leadership over a dynamic team that turns big data into meaningful information for Cancer Screening program performance evaluation and risk based decision-making.
authors.forename: Eli
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kane
authors.affiliation: Student Analyst at CCO. Neal led the implementation of the capacity planning tool for chronic kidney disease. He is currently pursuing a BASc degree in Industrial Engineering at the University of Toronto.
authors.forename: Neal
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kaw
authors.affiliation: Senior Methodologist within the Strategic Analytics team at CCO and has played a key role in establishing the practice. She specializes in advising programs on best defining key business questions that can be supported by analytics, leading analytic projects that involve developing data-driven decision-making tools and building analytic capacity organization-wide.
authors.forename: Somayeh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sadat
mesh_terms: D003659:Decision Making, Organizational; D055317:Evidence-Based Practice / Q000379:methods; D006285:Health Planning / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D008495:Medical Oncology / Q000458:organization & administration*; D017146:Models, Organizational; D009864:Ontario