Texas A&M University-Mays Business School and Humana Announce Winners of Eighth Annual Healthcare Analytics Case Competition

Mays Business School at Texas A&M University and leading health and well-being company Humana Inc. (NYSE: HUM) are pleased to announce the winners of the 2024 Humana-Mays Healthcare Analytics Case Competition, a premier competition challenging students to apply their analytical abilities to solve a real-world business problem.

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In its eighth year, the competition has grown to be one of the top healthcare analytics case competitions in the country, attracting more than 900 master’s-level students representing 74 major universities across the United States.

"The Healthcare Analytics Case Competition is a great example of how Mays Business School provides opportunities for students to drive real-world impact,” said Nate Y. Sharp, dean of Mays Business School. "We are honored to continue our partnership with Humana to provide a competition that provides experiential learning for students, while also addressing the critical challenges facing the healthcare industry. Together, Mays and Humana are fostering the excellence and innovation that will have a profound impact on both business and healthcare.”

The student team of Hope Odubena, Susan Miracle, and Sakthiraj Kandasamy from the University of Louisville received the first-place honor.

Abiraami Balambikai, Ahmed Farid Khan, Mingze (Mitchell) Wu, and Yichen (Jessica) Tong from Boston University took second place, and Sunanda Sen, Moumita Sen, Debanik Chakraborty, and Kusuma Lanka from Oklahoma State University came in third place.

This year’s competition focused on improving Medicare health plan member engagement with Primary Care Providers (PCPs), which is crucial for better health outcomes. Participants were tasked with developing a predictive model to identify members who are least likely to visit their PCP within a given year and proposing actionable strategies and programs to increase member PCP engagement.

"All of the case competition participants should be proud of their contributions toward advancing healthcare,” said James Norberg, VP, ISO Insurance & Product Security. "The projects provided valuable insights and actionable recommendations while showcasing the students’ talents and abilities to further advance the power of data science. Universities, students, colleges, the healthcare industry, as well as patients and health plan members, all benefit from advanced analytics competitions, which ultimately contribute to improving health outcomes.”

The virtual competition was open to full-time and part-time graduate students from accredited Master of Science, Master of Arts, Master of Information Systems, Master of Public Health, Master of Business Administration programs, or other similar master’s programs in business, healthcare or analytics in the United States.

The teams were judged based on the following criteria:

• Quantitative analysis identifying key business insights
• Professionalism, data visualization, and presentation skills
• Ability to provide meaningful implications and recommendations based on results/insights

Prior top winners include Syracuse University (2023); University of California, Los Angeles (2022); Georgia Tech (2021); Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania (2020); University of California, Los Angeles (2018 & 2019); and Purdue University (2017).

For more information, visit HumanaTAMUAnalytics.com.

About Mays Business School

Texas A&M University’s Mays Business School is building a better future through business. By providing leadership-centered, experiential education to more than 7,400 undergraduate, masters, and doctoral students in accounting, finance, management, management information systems, marketing, and supply chain management, Mays consistently ranks among the top public business schools for its programs and faculty research. Our mission is to develop leaders of character who make a positive difference in the communities where they live, work, and serve.

About Humana

Humana Inc. is committed to putting health first – for our teammates, our customers, and our company. Through our Humana insurance services, and our CenterWell health care services, we make it easier for the millions of people we serve to achieve their best health – delivering the care and service they need, when they need it. These efforts are leading to a better quality of life for people with Medicare, Medicaid, families, individuals, military service personnel, and communities at large. Learn more about what we offer at Humana.com and at CenterWell.com.

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