In the healthcare sector, realizing new solutions through data science training improves the quality of life and access to essential services for humanity. OptumHealth is a global healthcare technology company whose mission is to shape a better healthcare system by providing access to personalized healthcare services, including pharmacy and healthcare financial services, to more than 125 million people. The healthcare industry is undergoing rapid digital transformation, and organizations such as Optum, looking to lead this charge, need engineering teams that are confident in deploying robust automated solutions.
When OptumHealth approached Data Society, several new engineers had joined the organization, and the company was faced with the challenge of integrating new employees of varying skill levels into their projects. Often, senior engineers and developers would be tasked with training new team members. However, though highly talented and educated in their areas of expertise, they didn’t have the capacity or expertise to train and upskill new talent.
When faced with similar training needs, many organizations turn to data science training programs, most of which offer a one-stop shop of ready-made content that staff can take at a self-directed pace, generally in an online format and using only theoretical knowledge. While these kinds of programs are a good option for individuals looking to brush up on their skills, they cannot assess strengths and weaknesses across teams or build synergies throughout an organization. In short, when the ultimate goal is to create new solutions, they don’t suffice.
At Data Society, we understand that modern organizations are looking to upskill staff to apply their knowledge to solve immediate problems facing them and their customers. Our team of expert instructional designers creates industry-tailored data science training programs using your organization’s real-time data to achieve tangible outcomes specific to your business goals and objectives. We design customized training programs with learning pathways centered around an organization’s objectives. Courses conclude with an applied capstone project where staff works with their organization's data to solve specific organizational use cases. Our signature approach allows teams to accelerate their learning, build a culture of data literacy at the organizational level, and rapidly realize a more significant impact on customers and constituents.
To equip the engineering team at OptumHealth to develop tools that make it easier for patients to access essential health data, the company engaged Data Society to design and facilitate custom workshops. Here's how our signature approach to data science training helped their team go from being stuck to the development of a chatbot prototype solution – in only five days.
Data Society’s industry-tailored training approach is responsive to real-time feedback, and following the foundational three-day boot camp, there was an expressed desire to continue training toward implementing a new solution. A two-day course, "Using AI and Natural Language Understanding (NLU) to Create Custom Chatbots," was developed specifically for experienced software developers at the organization to deploy chatbots in production environments and tailor chatbot AI to a particular domain.
For their capstone, senior engineers conceptualized a "drug chatbot," utilizing Python, JavaScript, and machine learning so customers would be able to interact with the chatbot to identify the active ingredients in medications to see if those ingredients might interact negatively with other medicines they might be using. This solution, developed in only two days, can play a significant role in helping patients manage their medications and have more informed conversations with their care team – conversations that could be lifesaving.
The Optum team now has the power to imagine new ways of improving their patients' health and safety and to rapidly implement their new skills and processes to build tools that continue to impact the healthcare system positively. While any training can teach new skills, industry-tailored data science training like our program creates a culture of data literacy and innovation that inspires teams to imagine a new data-driven future within their organization.
Interested in what Data Society can do for your team? Contact us and discover what industry-tailored data science training can do for your workforce.
Data Society provides customized, industry-tailored data science training solutions—partnering with organizations to educate, equip, and empower their workforce with the skills to achieve their goals and expand their impact.
