3:1 - Clinic to Data Engineer Ratio for Oak Street Health (OSH)
Blake Madden's recent post that CVS is pouring money into OSH to open 50 de-novo clinics every year [1] motivated me. I became curious about how they are hiring to implement that strategy. So. I went to their career page. Luckily, they kindly put a search menu where I could check the number of open positions by category [2] (see below).
In short, they are hiring ๐ฎ๐ณ๐ณ providers, both doctors and NPs; these openings are a mix of existing and new clinics. However, if I assume the majority of these would be for the de-novo ones, ๐ถ๐ ๐๐ผ๐๐น๐ฑ ๐ฏ๐ฒ ๐ฑ.๐ฑ ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ผ๐๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐๐ถ๐๐ฒ, ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ฐ๐ต ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐บ๐ฎ๐ธ๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ฒ.
ย
Two numbers that stood out are the ๐ฑ๐ต ๐ฝ๐ผ๐๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐๐ฒ๐ต๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐น ๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐น๐๐ต ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ฆ๐ผ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฎ๐น ๐ช๐ผ๐ฟ๐ธ and the ๐ญ๐ณ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐๐ป๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ๐บ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐ง๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ต๐ป๐ผ๐น๐ผ๐ด๐. It seems to me that OSH plans to put at least one behavioral health and social worker per site. Also, if you look at the details, the open positions for the Information Technology category are mostly data engineers. If I follow the same logic, ๐ถ๐ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐บ๐ฒ๐ ๐ฑ๐ผ๐๐ป ๐๐ผ ๐ผ๐ป๐ฒ ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐๐ฎ ๐ฒ๐ป๐ด๐ถ๐ป๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐๐ต๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐น๐ถ๐ป๐ถ๐ฐ ๐๐ถ๐๐ฒ๐.ย
Data is a critical part of healthcare delivery operations now. We all wish the data engineering function to be a ๐๐๐ญ๐๐ ๐๐ค๐จ๐ฉ, but as far as I have seen in the market, ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐๐ฎ ๐ฒ๐ป๐ด๐ถ๐ป๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ฎ๐๐ธ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐๐๐ถ๐น๐น ๐ฒ๐๐ผ๐น๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด, ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐บ๐ฎ๐ป๐ ๐ฐ๐๐๐๐ผ๐บ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฎ๐น๐๐๐ถ๐ฐ๐ ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ผ๐ป ๐ฐ๐น๐ถ๐ป๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐น ๐น๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ฝ. So, I am treating the data engineering function as a ๐ซ๐๐ง๐๐๐๐ก๐ ๐๐ค๐จ๐ฉ.
The 3:1 ratio gives an interesting perspective, though. Many people ask me the right way to grow the data team. ๐ ๐ต๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ป ๐ฏ๐ผ๐๐ต ๐๐ป๐ป๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ถ๐น๐ ๐ฏ๐น๐ผ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐๐ฎ ๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐บ๐ (๐ฎ ๐น๐ผ๐) ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ฒ๐
๐๐ฟ๐ฒ๐บ๐ฒ๐น๐ ๐ฒ๐ณ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฒ๐ป๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐บ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐๐ฎ ๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐บ๐. There is no correct answer, but this 3:1 ratio can be "๐ผ๐ป๐ฒ" ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ณ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ ๐ฝ๐ผ๐ถ๐ป๐ if you think of growing the data operation part of the business.
[1] https://lnkd.in/dpsSB9RD
[2] https://lnkd.in/dqQXNFP4
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