Event Recap: Next-Generation Data and Analytics in Health Care | 9.26.2025

On Friday, September 26, HC3 brought together data scientists, public health officials, policy leaders, and healthcare innovators for the Q3 Summit: Next-Generation Data and Analytics in Health Care. Hosted at MATTER in partnership with HC3’s parent organization, Third Horizon, the event explored how new approaches to data sharing, transparency, and innovation can accelerate progress in health equity, care delivery, and system reform.

HC3 Podcast: Available to stream wherever you get your podcasts

Listen to the Podcast Here

Watch the event:

Event Recap:

The Future of Public Health Data Panel  Moderator: Ashley DeGarmo, Chief Client Services Officer, Third Horizon

Panelists:

Roy Ahn, VP, Public Health, NORC at the University of Chicago Heather Blonsky, Vice President, Data, Metopio 

 Alfreda Holloway, PhD, Director of Epidemiology, Cook County Department of Public Health (CCDPH)  

Shelly Sital, Director of Public Health Initiatives, AllianceChicago 

The panel discussion tackled one of health care’s most complex challenges—how to collect, share, and trust data across competitive systems while protecting privacy and improving health outcomes. As Sital noted, collaboration requires “trust in the math" or an understanding that transparency and shared purpose must precede any analytics.

• Collaboration over competition: Initiatives like CAPriCORN and AllianceChicago’s data networks are bridging silos between FQHCs and major health systems, providing visibility across millions of lives.

• Data for action: Metopio’s Health Atlas collaboration with Cook County and CDPH exemplifies how local governments can turn fragmented data into actionable insights for policy and planning.

• From data to equity: Dr. Holloway emphasized that democratizing access to data empowers communities to analyze their own needs. “We want to provide data to our communities and stakeholders,” she said. “That’s how you build sustainability.”
  

Panelists also discussed the careful integration of AI in public health. While its potential is vast—from detecting outbreaks to synthesizing massive datasets—each expert underscored the need for governance, guardrails, and human oversight to ensure equitable use.

“AI isn’t your new CEO—it’s your intern,” Blonsky said. “You have to tell it what to do, double-check the output, and remember it’s confident even when it’s wrong.”

Fireside Chat: Clinical Data Sharing 

Moderator: David Smith, Founder and CEO, Third Horizon

Guest: Michael Barbouche, Founder and CEO, Forward Health Group, Inc  In a candid fireside chat, David Smith, CEO of Third Horizon, sat down with Michael Barbouche, CEO of Forward Health Group, to unravel why U.S. clinical data systems remain so fragmented—despite billions spent on electronic health records (EHRs) and decades of federal initiatives.

From the 2004 creation of the Office of the National Coordinator to the 21st Century Cures Act, the vision of seamless data exchange remains elusive. “We’ve electronified everything,” Barbouche said, “but clinicians still can’t see their patients’ full story.”

The discussion traced how government mandates to digitize and share health records created powerful but siloed data fiefdoms. The pair dissected emerging reforms like the “Kill the Clipboard” initiative and trusted exchange frameworks (TEFCA) aimed at finally giving patients control of their records.

Smith and Barbouche warned that the health care system is “at an inflection point,” where economic pressure and workforce burnout could force overdue change. “We’ve reached the point where the wheels are starting to come off,” Smith said. “But that also means the market is ripe for true value-based reform—if we use data wisely.”

Keynote: Price Transparency and the Economics of Reform

Featured Speaker: David Smith, Founder and CEO, Third Horizon After the fireside chat, David stayed on to deliver a keynote on price transparency and the future of health care economics, translating one of the most opaque areas of U.S. health care—contracted payment rates—into accessible insight.

Through the lens of new CMS transparency mandates, Smith showed how terabytes of data now expose the vast differences in what payers reimburse and providers charge. “We’ve never had data like this before,” he noted. “It’s messy, but it’s revolutionary.”

His analysis revealed how market concentration, payer dominance, and opaque rate-setting distort costs across the country—and even within Chicago. By comparing rate variation across hospitals and health plans, Smith demonstrated how transparent data can finally enable smarter policymaking, network design, and value-based care.

The takeaway was clear: data is power, but only if used to align financial incentives with patient outcomes. “The era of infinite cross-subsidy is over,” her warned. “Transparency, equity, and sustainability must now go hand in hand.”

Bright Ideas: Data-Driven Innovation in Action

To close the summit, Steven Collens of MATTER hosted a Bright Ideas showcase spotlighting entrepreneurs using data to reimagine health care’s future:

• Christian Stoll (Joystik Life): Using biometric and behavioral data to combat stress and burnout through a digital, evidence-based resilience platform.

• Vanessa Bisceglie (Care Vitality): An AI-enabled care management system integrating chronic care, behavioral health, and remote monitoring into one scalable virtual platform.

• Tomás de’Medici (ION Stewards Energy): Mapping environmental and infrastructure data to assess health and pollution risks across Chicago communities.

• Margot Nash (MindMetrix): Leveraging data to make psychiatric diagnosis as precise as physical medicine, moving beyond trial-and-error mental health care.
  

Steven summed up the spirit of the segment: “Healthcare data is a mess, but it’s a solvable mess. Entrepreneurs like these give us hope that innovation can chip away at complexity and make health care work better for everyone.”

Looking Ahead The Q3 Summit revealed both the dysfunction and the promise of the nation’s health care data landscape. Across panels and keynotes, one message resounded: data alone won’t save health care—collaboration, transparency, and accountability will.

Looking ahead, the movement toward data-driven health care is gaining momentum across sectors. From policy to practice, collaboration and transparency are reshaping what’s possible—transforming data into discovery, discovery into impact, and paving the way for a more connected, equitable, and innovative health system.