SAS is expanding its presence in healthcare and life sciences with a new business group that will focus on improving the design and delivery of healthcare as well as improving financial performance of healthcare providers.
The SAS Center for Health Analytics and Insights, or CHAI, will be based in Cary and staffed with 16 people, according to a company spokesperson. Of the 16, 12 already have been hired and 80 percent of them are new to SAS.
SAS announced the new group at its annual healthcare conference in Cary.
The group will utilize the expertise of SAS’ analytics software to serve as an incubator for improvements in healthcare relying on data gathered from evidence-based medicine, clinical research and cost mitigation as well as other data.
Jason Burke, director of health and life sciences at SAS, will lead the new group.
“Our industry is in the midst of a huge transformation,” said Burke, whose title is managing director and chief strategist for CHAI. “Despite years of operating in silos, the reality is today health plans, health care providers, life sciences firms and government organizations all face similar challenges in an unsustainable system. So the promise in health analytics to these organizations – better health outcomes at lower costs, and through better customer relationships – is tremendous.”
Other members of the team include Dave Handelsman, a 10-year SAS veteran who once worked at ClinTrials; Sarah Rittman, former director of business transformation at Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina, and Brad Sitler, a general manager at a pharmaceutical marketing firm.
For more about the new group, read here.
Get the latest news alerts: Follow WRAL Tech Wire at Twitter.
