Mays Business School at Texas A&M University and leading health and well-being company Humana Inc. (NYSE: HUM) have announced the winners of the 2022 Humana-Mays Healthcare Analytics Case Competition, a competition during which students use their analytical abilities to solve a real-world business problem.

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In its sixth year, the competition has grown to be one of the top healthcare analytics case competitions in the country. Over 550 master’s level students, representing 48 major universities in the U.S., registered for the national competition to compete for $80,000 in total prizes.

The student team of Rick Kessels, Karthik Maddipoti and Charlotte Nouwen from UCLA received the first-place prize of $50,000. The second-place prize of $20,000 was awarded to Madhusree Chowdhury, Sai Jahnavi Gamalapati and Di Zhao from University of Connecticut, while the third-place prize of $10,000 was presented to Chen Lin, Bill Pahutski and Paul Selling from UCLA.

This year’s competition focused on the theme “Health-Related Social Need (HRSN) of Housing Insecurity,” which is defined as the lack of access to quality and safe housing. Students, who were asked to create a model to identify Medicare members most likely to struggle with housing insecurity issues, proposed solutions to help people achieve their best health. This included a targeted outreach strategy for Humana that prioritizes the most vulnerable and underserved populations so that they may receive health solutions.

“Humana is committed to helping people and the communities we serve achieve their best health. We do this by addressing social determinants of health and health-related social needs, both inside and outside of the clinical setting,” said Sam Deshpande, Chief Information Officer at Humana. “Advanced analytics enable us to identify how to meet the needs of the whole person while helping to steer resources to those who need extra support. It is exciting to see the passion and creative ideas of this year’s participants as they work to solve these systemic health challenges and open the door to future possibilities.”

“The quality of the analytics these students are delivering has improved each year,” said Scott Bagley, PhD, Vice President of HQRI Technology and Analytics at Humana. Bagley, a Texas A&M alumnus, who has served as a Case Competition Finalist Judge for the past five years, added, “Serving as a judge for this competition is my favorite professional opportunity, an exciting partnership that fosters ingenuity and creativity, especially as the real world problems provided have become more challenging to match America’s need to advance and evolve healthcare in this country.”

“Business schools educate students to solve real-world problems,” said Jerry Strawser, Associate Dean for Graduate Programs at Mays Business School. “This case study illustrates how students can apply skills they learn in the classroom to make a difference in the world by improving the health and lives of patients and their families.”

The sixth annual competition was held virtually and was open to all accredited educational institutions based in the United States. Full-time and part-time master’s 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, were eligible to enter.

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 Georgia Tech (2021), Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania (2020), UCLA (2018 & 2019) and Purdue University (2017).

For more information, visit HumanaTAMUAnalytics.com.

About Mays Business School

At Mays Business School, we strive to advance the world’s prosperity. Our mission is to be a vibrant learning organization that creates impactful knowledge and develops transformational leaders. Mays Business School educates nearly 6,300 undergraduate, masters, and doctoral students in accounting, finance, information systems and operations management, management, and marketing. Mays ranks consistently among the top public business schools in the country for its programs and for faculty research.

About Humana

Humana Inc. is committed to helping our millions of medical and specialty members achieve their best health. Our successful history in care delivery and health plan administration is helping us create a new kind of integrated care with the power to improve health and well-being and lower costs. Our efforts are leading to a better quality of life for people with Medicare, families, individuals, military service personnel, and communities at large.

To accomplish that, we support physicians and other health care professionals as they work to deliver the right care in the right place for their patients, our members. Our range of clinical capabilities, resources and tools – such as in-home care, behavioral health, pharmacy services, data analytics and wellness solutions – combine to produce a simplified experience that makes health care easier to navigate and more effective.

More information regarding Humana is available to investors via the Investor Relations page of the company’s website at humana.com, including copies of:

• Annual reports to stockholders;
• Securities and Exchange Commission filings;
• Most recent investor conference presentations;
• Quarterly earnings news releases and conference calls;
• Calendar of events; and
• Corporate Governance information.

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