Kennesaw State announced June 17 that KSU and partner MagMutual Insurance Company opened a new research laboratory available to graduate students in the healthcare management and informatics program as part of a collaboration between the Coles College of Business’ MSHMI program and the Analytics and Data Science Institute.
“MagMutual focuses on our physician and hospital policyholders. Partnering with KSU will allow us to get better data to our policyholders more quickly to help them reduce the risk they face in the practice of medicine,” MagMutual Chief Medical Officer Dr. William S. Kanich said.
Executive Director and KSU professor of healthcare management and informatics Sweta Sneha spearheaded the development of the MSHMI program and its launch in fall 2016 as the first degree program of its kind in Georgia, according to KSU.
“MagMutual has been on the advisory board of the Healthcare Management and Informatics program from its inception,” Sneha said. “I am very appreciative of their support and look forward to further deepening the relationship between MagMutual and Kennesaw State University in research, engagement and education.”
According to KSU, the laboratory is funded by MagMutual on behalf of their mutual owners.
“This funding gives our students applied research experience in the growing field of healthcare informatics and provides us an opportunity to impact patient safety at a foundational level,” Sneha said.
KSU also announced that the MagMutual lab is led by a team of faculty and students at KSU who utilize their skills and knowledge in data science and healthcare to better understand the inherent risks encountered by the physicians with the overall goal to positively impact patient safety.
According to its website, the MSHMI program at KSU is a premier interdisciplinary graduate program rooted in collaborations across the Coles College of Business, College of Science and Mathematics, College of Computing and Software Engineering and WellStar College of Health and Human Sciences. The mission of the program is to develop a robust workforce with relevant skills to tackle 21st-century healthcare challenges and opportunities.
According to its website, the interdisciplinary approach gives students an understanding of the connections between health care management and informatics as it integrates information technology, computing, data analytics, health care delivery processes, along with leadership and management principles.
Founded in 1982, MagMutual has served as a trusted advocate and strategic advisor to thousands of physicians and hospitals for more than 35 years, according to its website.
