CEO at mimilabs | LinkedIn Top Voice | Ph.D., Machine Learning and Health Data
3:1 - Clinic to Data Engineer Ratio for Oak Street Health (OSH) Blake Madden's recent post that CVS is pouring money into OSH to open 50 de-novo clinics every year [1] motivated me. I became curious about how they are hiring to implement that strategy. So. I went to their career page. Luckily, they kindly put a search menu where I could check the number of open positions by category [2] (see below). In short, they are hiring 𝟮𝟳𝟳 providers, both doctors and NPs; these openings are a mix of existing and new clinics. However, if I assume the majority of these would be for the de-novo ones, 𝗶𝘁 𝘄𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗯𝗲 𝟱.𝟱 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗽𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗲, 𝘄𝗵𝗶𝗰𝗵 𝘀𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲𝘀 𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗲. Two numbers that stood out are the 𝟱𝟵 𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗕𝗲𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗼𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗛𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗵 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗦𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗸 and the 𝟭𝟳 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗜𝗻𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗻𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘆. It seems to me that OSH plans to put at least one behavioral health and social worker per site. Also, if you look at the details, the open positions for the Information Technology category are mostly data engineers. If I follow the same logic, 𝗶𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝗱𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗿 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝗰𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗰 𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗲𝘀. Data is a critical part of healthcare delivery operations now. We all wish the data engineering function to be a 𝙛𝙞𝙭𝙚𝙙 𝙘𝙤𝙨𝙩, but as far as I have seen in the market, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗮𝘀𝗸𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗲𝘃𝗼𝗹𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺 𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘆𝘁𝗶𝗰𝘀 𝗱𝗲𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝗻 𝗰𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽. So, I am treating the data engineering function as a 𝙫𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙨𝙩. The 3:1 ratio gives an interesting perspective, though. Many people ask me the right way to grow the data team. 𝗜 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗯𝗼𝘁𝗵 𝘂𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗹𝘆 𝗯𝗹𝗼𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺𝘀 (𝗮 𝗹𝗼𝘁) 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗲𝘅𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝗲𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺𝘀. There is no correct answer, but this 3:1 ratio can be "𝗼𝗻𝗲" 𝗿𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗽𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁 if you think of growing the data operation part of the business. [1] https://lnkd.in/dpsSB9RD [2] https://lnkd.in/dqQXNFP4 #valuebasedcare #dataengineering #dataanalytics #healthcareanalytics #healthcareinnovation #healthcaretechnology
Jim Bonnette, MD
7mo
Interesting summary thanks for posting. I wonder how many of these positions are for replacements of already existing employees? I have seen a number of now ex-CVS employees applying for jobs elsewhere. I suspect turnover is quite high
Blake Madden
7mo
Interesting stuff, love the sleuthing!!
Ankit Patel
7mo
Trying to get that BHI money…
Brad Arner
7mo
Another job posting splunker I see! 😁 When we were growing head count aggressively, I always thought: "Just look at our job board to see our focus." I've carried that with me. Job boards are such insightful glimpses into companies.
James Supica
7mo
This was a great lightbulb moment for me. Think there are hiring trends happening based on data analysis? Go check out their hiring page! Well done!
Healthcare Actuary
7moData engineer seems like an odd job title for something that would scale by clinic. I would expect like a data analytics or clinical analytics job title for that kind of work. It could be they're trying to build a separate data engineering shop to support Oak Street and they either outsource that work today or do it within the broader CVS org and want a dedicated team? Hard to know for sure. I've just never heard of a data engineer title assigned to a health clinic at the clinic level.