Betsy Mcvay

39 Vice president and chief analytics officer UnityPoint Health, Des Moines, Iowa

Becoming an analytics officer for UnityPoint Health was a meeting of skills and passion for Betsy McVay. She knew that was where she wanted to be after her sister was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and she witnessed firsthand the challenges people face in terms of paying for and getting access to care.

“Wanting to improve access and lower costs for people, that is my passion, and I have an ability for math and numbers, so that’s my skill set,” she said.

She prides herself on being able to leverage data to see things from a fresh perspective. In just four years, McVay’s team at Des Moines, Iowa-based UnityPoint Health has identified $ 57 million in organization-wide cost savings. They’ve worked closely with the chief financial officer to provide analytics support and rejigger finances and transition away from a traditional fee-for-service approach.

“We are using data and information to think differently. We now have the ability to inform our clinicians that if they discharge a patient today, when is it likely that they will be readmitted and what would our plan be if they show up again on day 15 versus day 20 or 30?” she said.

Her passion lies in creating a data-driven organization and figuring out what information her staff needs to help them think differently about patient care. McVay and her team focus on the use of both descriptive and predictive analytics, which has helped put UnityPoint in the top decile for performance measures.

“Wanting to improve access and lower costs for people, that is my passion.”