Vic Health creates chief analytics role

The Victorian Department of Health has introduced a chief analytics officer (CAO) role that will take ownership of the Centre for Victorian Data Linkage and its analytics fellowship program.

The newly created role was established by the state health department following a restructure of the Victorian Agency for Health Information (VAHI).

Set to report to VAHI chief executive Lance Emerson, the CAO will oversee the strategic direction of the Centre for Victorian Data Linkage (CVDL), which manages the Victorian Linkage Map.

The linkage map enables the identification of records that belong to the same person across the Victorian health and human services datasets.

Other responsibilities of the role include oversight of the Department of Health’s analytics strategy unit, and its data and analytics fellowship program.

The fellowship program was launched in August 2022 under the leadership of Eastern Health Intensive Care Services deputy director, Dr Graeme Duke.

A Department of Health spokesperson told iTnews the new CAO will be responsible for “advocating for the use of data to help improve patient care, operations, education, and research."

The spokesperson added the role will also need “to inform care planning and early intervention, across our health system.”

The selected candidate will also examine “data and patient journey analytics will help deliver insights that inform clinical decision-making across the entire sector.”