UNT places in top five at annual Humana-Mays Healthcare Analytics Case Competition

humana mays.png
Pictured (left to right): Shweta Batra, Shruti Chandna and Mahdi Ahmadi
as they compete in the final round of the Humana-Mays Healthcare
​​​​​​​Analytics Case Competition.

A team of three Ryan College of Business students placed in the top five at the fourth annual Humana-Mays Healthcare Analytics Case Competition. Open to all accredited educational institutions, more than 700 students from 76 universities competed virtually for a combined $70,000, with only five teams advancing to the final round.

Kashif Saeed, program director of MS Business Analytics and faculty mentor of UNT’s team, would like this achievement to set the trend for many more years to come. “This is a defining moment in the journey of MS Business Analytics program at UNT,” said Saeed.

The Humana-Mays competition has grown to become one of the most respected analytics competitions in the nation—tasking students with solving complex, real-world healthcare challenges by using data analytics and predictive modeling. This year’s proposed problem involved Medicare members’ barriers to healthcare access. 

 “Succeeding in the competition required multiple skills: excellent analytical understanding of a business problem, proficiency in data mining and visualization, excellent written and oral communication, and time management,” explained UNT Analytica team captain Mahdi Ahmadi.

Ahmadi competed with teammates Shruti Chandna and Shweta Batra, all of whom are anticipated to graduate from UNT in 2021 with master’s degrees in business analytics.

“Two parts of the competition were very challenging: developing a predictive model that would perform well on a noisy and complex dataset, and finding solutions to overcome Humana members' problem of transportation barriers to healthcare access. The second one was more challenging because Humana as a successful business is already trying many different solutions, and we needed to go above and beyond their current solutions,” said Ahmadi.

Ultimately, teams were evaluated based on the following criteria:

  • Quantitative analysis identifying key business insights
  • Professionalism, data visualization, and presentation skills
  • Ability to provide unique insights for business improvements
  • Ability to establish key performance indicators aligned to business needs

The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Southern California Marshall School of Business and the University of California, Los Angeles Anderson School of Management were among other top schools in the final round.

UNT’s ability to compete alongside some of the country’s most prestigious business schools is a testament to the business analytics program at the G. Brint Ryan College of Business.

____

To learn more about the competition, visit: https://mays.tamu.edu/humana-tamu-analytics/