Population health took centrestage at the 7^th edition of the APEX Business-IT Global Case Challenge held at Singapore Management University from 4-8 May 2015. The competition attracted 16 teams from 16 universities in Asia, Europe and North America.

Organised by students from various schools at SMU, the international competition is held annually for upper-year undergraduates. Every year, an original case is crafted by the SMU Case Writing Initiative, highlighting specific real-world challenges, technology options, implementation scenarios and managerial choices that are deemed to be especially relevant to current and emerging issues being faced by managers as they grapple with using IT to enhance their competitive advantage. The case challenges students to design a solution that enhances the organisation’s performance while taking into consideration its circumstances.

The Case Partner of this year’s competition was Alexandra Health System, a healthcare cluster in the north of Singapore that currently manages the 590-bed Khoo Teck Puat Hospital.

The challenge put forward to the teams included how to attract residents to voluntary screening events, achieve a predictable turnout for each screening event, reduce queue lengths and average waiting times, increase the fraction of residents who collect their screening reports, and induce them to take appropriate follow-up actions.

[Caption: (from right to left) Dr Jason Yap, Associate Professor at the NUS Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, Mr Bastari Irwan, Director of Transformation Office at Alexandra Health System, Dr Chong Yoke Sin, Chief Executive Officer of Integrated Health Information Systems, shared their insights into population health at the thematic workshop moderated by Professor Steven Miller, SMU's Vice Provost (Research) and Dean, School of Information Systems.]

The five-day event included a thematic workshop which brings together a panel of industry experts to discuss the competition theme with the teams. The thematic workshop served as a platform for interactive learning and sharing of knowledge. It allowed participants to gain an overview of the case theme through a discussion with panelists consisting of senior executives and industry experts, moderated by Professor Steven Miller, Dean of the School of Information Systems.

The participants also had a chance to get to know Singapore better through visits to the HDB flats, temples and a community centre in the Bugis neighbourhood where SMU is located.

After three gruelling rounds - from the preliminaries, semi-finals, to the grand finals – Team S&S International from University of Minnesota, comprising Teja Choudhary, Spencer Price, and Sam Bagley overcame stiff competition from five other finalists to emerge as champions.

[Caption: Team Genesis Health from University of British Columbia (top), and Team Tephra Consulting from Simon Fraser University (bottom) came in second and third in the competition.]

Team Genesis Health from University of British Columbia, and Team Tephra Consulting from Simon Fraser University, walked away with the first and second runner-up prizes.

Team S&S International’s solution to the challenge consisted of three parts: Residents Committee (RC) Portal and Longevity Card, Family Wellness Portal, and a social marketing campaign. The RC Portal and Longevity card ensure that the health screening process is more efficient and effective by allowing RCs to leverage technology in order to improve the registration process. The Longevity card serves as an appointment reminder for residents as well as contains a unique ID that eliminates inefficiencies while moving from station to station during health screenings. The family wellness portal provides the means for the ageing population to pursue a healthier lifestyle by having a social support network and access to personalised recommendations. The social marketing campaign provides incentive for the ageing population to take part in frequent health screenings and change their lifestyles.

Team Genesis Health suggested earlier screening times and mobile screening services to attain the target number of people screened. To promote a healthy and proactive lifestyle, the team proposed a strategy to Segment, Target, Position and Provide the right resources, and to achieve this on a large scale by partnering dominant and influential players in the Singapore. They recommended setting up Lionshield Committees to, among other things, host health events and initiatives, and to perform duties related to screening, such as dropping off screening results that were not picked up. For the long term, the team suggested developing an online platform called Carebook where an individual can make decisions for himself, and be responsible for his own health.

To cut down the time for transferring data from pen and paper to an excel spreadsheet, Team Tephra Consulting recommended creating an application for the Residents Committee to use tablets instead. To reduce waiting time for screening participants, the team suggested using time-slotting. To address the scalability and integration of the program within Northern Singapore’s healthcare ecosystem, the team proposed a campaign to drive awareness about the impact of health screening, and a resident referral program.

Katherine Wong from Team Genesis Health, University of British Columbia, said “I feel that we all took a lot away from the Asian culture, and also the realistic application of "population health" via the live case. Another great takeaway was how a city or country can be well run and organised.

“APEX has helped in our learning experience in both the personal and in an academic capacity. At a personal level, it provided a connection and international network of friends, and a new found interest and appreciation for Singapore. Academically, the competition gave us a better understanding of population health issues and insights into the realities of healthcare across the world.”

Madeline Millsip from Team Tephra Consulting, Simon Fraser University, added “Our team enjoyed our experience at APEX 2015. The case featuring Alexandra Health System’s Population Health Program challenged us to analyse the healthcare industry in Singapore, and gain a deeper understanding about the issues it is facing.

“By competing at APEX, our team has been able to gain an understanding of the complexity of the decisions that an organisation is faced with and the numerous factors that must be taken into consideration when recommending and implementing solutions. Specifically, we understood the unique problems that are faced within healthcare systems, the needs of various stakeholders involved, and the opportunities IT solutions bring to healthcare systems.” 

We would like to extend our heartiest congratulations to the winning teams, and look forward to welcoming back these teams, as well as new participating universities, for the competition in 2016!