Christopher Boone, Avalere Health’s vice president of evidence translation and implementation, combines his knowledge and skills in both health care and technology to promote positive changes.
The industry is continually changing and there is a growing need for more strategic policies and procedures. Big Data has the ability to provide in-depth insight into complex health care problems and aid in the development of more effective policies and procedures.
He designs studies that incorporate real world and Big Data to support more sound clinical, coverage, strategic, operational, and policy decisions. These decisions have more data backing them and verifying results. Boone conducts market research, develops policy frameworks, directs program implementation and analysis, devises strategic plans, and delivers evidence generation strategies to medical societies, trade associations, life sciences organizations, and information technology vendors.
It is through a comprehensive and in-depth understanding of the industry and the policies that govern it that Christopher Boone, Avalere executive, is able to develop and execute innovative strategies that support business operations in this dynamic field. He has held diverse positions spanning IT services, project management, consulting, strategy, business relations and more, generally focused on information technology. These diverse experiences have exposed him to a wide range of situations and helped him to refine and hone his skills.
Boone is also passionate about giving back to the industry and community and sits on several boards and committees for notable organizations including the National Patient Advocacy Foundation, the American Heart Association Greater Washington Region Mission Committee, Academy Health’s Translation and Communication Committee, and ASCO’s CancerLinQ Advisory Committee. He is able to apply his talents and experience in a different way to further support the industry, the betterment of services, and improve policy making.
For Christopher Boone, Avalere Health has provided him with the opportunity to combine his information technology, business administration, and health care administration skills. Each of the jobs he held leading up to this position has served to equip him with the knowledge and skills that have helped him to thrive. He has taken on roles of increasing authority covering many facets of information technology and health care over the years, contributing to the development of a solid foundation on which he has continued to build.
Educational Background
Christopher Boone, Avalere executive, began his educational journey by attending the University of Tulsa, Tulsa, Oklahoma. He graduated in 2002 with his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration majoring in Management Information Systems. Here he acquired a strong background in all aspects of the computer systems used to track, manage, and analyze data. These systems are used across virtually every industry and within many different departments. They have vast capabilities to provide valuable information and data resources. Although he could have gone into any industry, Boone decided to focus his career path on health care.
In 2005 he returned to school to earn his master’s degree. He graduated from the University of Texas at Arlington in 2006 with his Master of Science in Health Care Administration. After acquiring a few years of additional experience, he chose to further his education once again, this time going for his Ph.D. With an increasing interest in health care policy and decision making, Christopher Boone, Avalere executive, studied to earn his Ph.D. in public affairs with a focus on health policy from the University of Texas at Dallas. He completed his dissertation on “Addressing Informatics Barriers to Observational Comparative Effectiveness Research.”
Professional Experience
Upon graduating with his degree in MIS, he began working for UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, as a technology support analyst II. His work was within the IT operations and systems related to the cardiology department and enhancing services to support clinical and research practices.
After refining his abilities and gaining additional hands-on experience in the industry, he took a position as a project manager for information technology at Texas Health Resources (Presbyterian Hospital of Plano), Plano, Texas. Here Christopher Boone, Avalere Health VP of evidence translation and implementation, collaborated with hospital administrators, clinicians, and IT stakeholders to ensure the IT systems were able to meet their needs and objectives. He contributed to the design, development, upgrading, and implementation of multiple hospital-wide technology systems.
In 2006 he became a senior consultant for strategy and operations at Deloitte Consulting, LLP, in Irving, Texas. In this role he played an instrumental part in providing strategic advisory services focused on clinical information systems. Christopher also provided insight and guidance on to how to reduce operational costs, leverage technology to gain competitive advantage, and manage strategic changes and quality efforts. He also spent a year working as director of health care strategy and innovation at Animato Consulting in Dallas, Texas.
These experiences led Christopher Boone, Avalere Health executive, to become business relationship manager for information technology for Cook Children’s Health Care System in Fort Worth, Texas. He spearheaded company-wide IT strategic planning, provided IT support within the organization, ensured adherence to IT governance processes, and managed the design, implementation, and upgrading of multiple electronic clinical systems.
Having worked across many different types of health care facilities and settings, Boone soon found himself assuming the role of national director of outpatient quality and health IT for the American Heart Association in Dallas, Texas. He oversaw profit and loss, strategic planning, business development, and resource management for the organization. He was able to initiate numerous beneficial improvements that had a positive impact on data collection and management, annual revenue, research opportunities, and health policy development and implementation.
With his wealth of experience in health care business strategy, policy, and IT systems, Avalere Health was the next logical step in his career progression. Assuming the role of vice president of evidence translation and implementation allows him to have an even greater impact and apply his vast training and experience to making a difference in health care. Christopher is committed to advancing the benefits of Big Data in the industry and providing creative solutions to a myriad of challenges that businesses may face.
Christopher Boone, Avalere Health’s vice president of evidence translation and implementation, has big plans for the future. He stays abreast of the latest trends and developments occurring in health care and information technology and the impact that they have on the industry. He will continue to provide a host of advisory and analytics services, policy interpretation and support, and thought leadership as it relates the use of clinical, real world, Big Data, and electronic health data. Through supporting these systems and advancements, businesses will have the ability to more effectively use this data to improve their services, policies, and procedures.
One of his major goals is to successfully launch the Center for Real World Data at Avalere Health. This directly relates to the services that he provides and would enhance the capabilities of the company and allow them to better serve their clients. He would also like to publish several articles surrounding the application of Big Data in provider, health plan, and life sciences settings in addition to publishing a book on innovative approaches to using data.
Big Data is an area that continues to grow and change. People are still seeking to understand the true potential it holds and how it can be effectively integrated into business operations and organizations to promote positive results. Through sophisticated data mining and analytics approaches, increased use of emerging technology and genomics, and a greater focus on population health, the industry has the ability to refine its services and care in significant ways with Big Data.
Health care is transitioning from the traditional procedural focus to an outcome- or value-based focus, and Big Data fits well with this model. Christopher Boone, Avalere executive, will continue to explore the possibilities that data holds and its role in policy and program development and implementation.