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19 CFO / FINANCE Bringing 'Moneyball' to medicine: Paul DePodesta on his time with the Oakland A's and the future of analytics By Jessica Kim Cohen and Molly Gamble A s healthcare organizations increasingly tap into data for ac- tionable insights, they are looking outside of healthcare for best practices. One of the world's most well-respected minds on the use of data analytics to drive change is someone you may know, but likely have never heard of — Paul DePodesta. Mr. DePodesta was famously profiled in the book and hit movie Mon- eyball. is true story of turning the worst team in baseball — with the lowest payroll — into baseball's best team revealed the stunning and hidden power of how data and analytics can make a difference. In the movie, the unsung hero is an analyst played by actor Jonah Hill — a character based on Mr. DePodesta's time with the Oakland Ath- letics. In the early 2000s, Mr. DePodesta was assistant to the general manager for the Oakland A's, where he helped to pioneer the use of analytics to build a better baseball team. But Mr. DePodesta's affinity for data started much earlier, when he began working as an advance scout with the Cleveland Indians in the 1990s. "e advance scout is the one who goes out and watches all of oppo- nents before you play them," Mr. DePodesta told Becker's Hospital Re- view. "At the end of the first game I walked back to my office quarters and thought I was wholly unprepared to do this job … I thought, 'Who is going to listen to a 23-year-old who hasn't played professional base- ball, and doesn't have the benefit of all this experience and insight?' I was rattled." As Mr. DePodesta continued scouting for the Cleveland Indians, he re- alized he didn't have to provide the players with insights — he could gather data from the opponents' games, and report back to his team. "Rather than being a columnist, I was going to be court stenographer and just record the action and report on the action," he said. "For instance, rather than saying you should throw sliders to this hitter with two strikes, I could say this hitter is one for 24 on sliders with two strikes, and then allow you to do with that information whatever you like," Mr. DePodesta continued. "I started digging deeper and deeper into the data, and I realized there was a treasure trove of information. It really astounded me." Today, he is bringing the Moneyball concepts to football in his role as the chief strategy officer for the Cleveland Browns — a team that made headlines in September for winning its first game in almost two years. Mr. DePodesta, who is slated to keynote the Strata Decision Summit Oct. 24 in Chicago, is now a nationally known and sought aer expert on applying data to drive changes. At the Strata Decision Summit, he will discuss how he's used analytics throughout his career with the MLB, and how that journey led him to bring his experience to the NFL. "For me, Paul's work is a great example of how the thoughtful, collab- orative use of data can fundamentally change the game," Dan Michel- son, CEO of Strata Decision Technology, told Becker's Hospital Review. "At this point, no one would question that folks in the front office, the managers and the players are more effective when they have data in their hands," he added. "ey now dra players, coach and play the game completely differently. Given what's at stake in healthcare, both clinically and financially, we all have a responsibility to bring the con- cepts of Moneyball to medicine." Becker's Hospital Review caught up with Mr. DePodesta to discuss his time with the Oakland A's, how he addresses industry leaders who are skeptical of shaking up traditional processes and his tips for applying data insights in any industry. Editor's note: is interview has been edited for length and clarity. Question: What were some struggles you encountered in the early days, when you were first taking steps into analytics? Paul DePodesta: It really is a sea change in how you think about deci- sion-making. You get a lot of pushback from different areas — people who have been doing it a certain way for a long time, or an industry doing it a certain way for a long time. You get push back from people who are hugely successful in their field, who have a framework for how they've done things. en, there is also human psychology. ere are all sorts of biases built into human decision-making — some of them are valuable, which is why they are so deeply ingrained, but the reality is a lot of this work in analytics ends up both exposing and coming into conflict with those mental shortcuts that we almost all employ daily. ose are obstacles we faced then, still face today and will continue to face going forward. Q: Can you give an example of a time when analytics con- tradicted a cognitive bias? PD: Recency bias really plays prominently in sports. We expect what- ever happened recently is more likely to affect what happens going forward, or more likely to be status quo going forward. When you are playing 162 baseball games, what someone has done in the last three to five days features prominently in your mind, even if that person may have a 10-year career behind them that — taken as a collective — is much more predictive of future performance. Has this guy "lost it" because he's two for 20 over the last five days, even though he's been good enough to maintain a 10-year career in the major leagues? We're human, so it happens to all of us. Q: What is your response to people who say, "But this is the way we've always done things"? PD: When omas Paine wrote Common Sense to advocate for democracy in the late 1700s, it was not widely accepted — it was a pretty controversial piece of literature at the time. In a second edition he wrote a forward, where he said that a long habit of not thinking something is wrong gives it the superficial appearance of being right. at continues to be true today. When I'm confronted with someone saying that, I try to preempt those conversations by proactively putting that out there. But what I don't want to do is indict what they've been doing for a long time. ere is probably a reason they have been doing it, and that reason might have been a really, really good reason once upon a time. As times and circumstances change, it's important to change our processes along with it.