SCAN Named the Winner of the 2025 Hearst Health Prize

SCAN was recognized for the Patients at Their Home (PATH) platform, which supports the work of primary care clinicians who treat senior patients in their homes, in nursing homes, and in assisted living facilities. PATH integrates data from sources such as electronic medical records, claims history, and health risk assessments to create a comprehensive and holistic view of each patient. The platform analyzes this data to generate an individual risk score, prioritizing and weighting specific factors based on the 4Ms of geriatrics, an evidence-based framework used to support high-quality care for older adults. This information is synthesized to provide clinicians with a complete view of their patient panel, stratified by medical acuity, and to optimize the routing and scheduling of patient visits.

"Launched in 2023, PATH is now a standard component of care protocols and is used by over 65 clinicians serving over 6,000 patients across SCAN's operations," said Vinay Kulkarni, chief information officer at SCAN. "The platform has contributed to meaningful time savings for clinical and administrative teams as well as improved outcomes for patients."

SCAN's Vice President of Primary Care Dr. Gabriel Waterman stated, "In a traditional brick-and-mortar ambulatory practice, patients call in to request a visit or schedule a follow-up. In our model providing home-based primary care, a clinician could enter a senior living facility with over 100 patients and must be able to identify who needs to be seen immediately and which visits can be deprioritized. PATH helps clinicians make informed decisions about where to invest their time while also ensuring each patient gets the care they need when they need it."

"While many systems perform risk stratification, PATH is unique in that it allows clinicians to customize their view based on a range of inputs, incorporating actionable recommendations to guide effective treatment decisions for higher-risk patients," said Dr. Anthony Nguyen, chief executive officer of Welcome Health, SCAN's medical group that provides primary care to older adults.

Dr. Gabriel Waterman emphasized, "By identifying patients in real time as they're leaving the hospital or the nursing home and prioritizing their care, we've been able to achieve an industry-leading 7.5% readmission rate. This has had a significant financial impact but most importantly we're keeping people healthy by ensuring the right patients are receiving the right care at the right time."

Tuchinda said, "By simultaneously enhancing care quality and optimizing resource utilization, this program demonstrates the power of data-driven strategies to improve healthcare delivery—particularly in times of increasing service demand and clinician shortages."

"Our partnership with Hearst Health originated to recognize impactful data science initiatives. We aim to inspire further advances by showcasing approaches like PATH, that have proven to be effective and show applicability to transform outcomes in other areas of care," said Dr. Alex Bui, UCLA professor and co-director of the UCLA Center for AI & SMART Health.

About the Hearst Health Prize

The Hearst Health Prize is an annual competition that showcases data science programs making a health impact. Visit https://hearsthealthlp.hearst.com/2026-hearst-health-prize-news-updates to sign up to receive updates, including notifications about the call for submissions for the 2026 Hearst Health Prize.

About the UCLA Center for AI & SMART Health

The UCLA Center for Artificial Intelligence & Systematic, Measurable, Actionable, Resilient, and Technology-driven (SMART) Health is a campus-wide collaborative that looks to the integrated transformation of healthcare through emergent data and technologies. A joint effort between the Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI), the Institute for Precision Health (IPH), and the B. John Garrick Institute for the Risk Sciences that brings together UCLA's experts to shape how digital and data-driven healthcare technologies will help to manage risk, reliability, resilience, uncertainty, and precision in future biomedical research and clinical care.

About Hearst Health

The mission of Hearst Health is to guide healthcare organizations by delivering essential intelligence and software that improve the quality, safety and efficiency of care. Hearst Health has been innovating with care for more than 40 years, with a commitment to making a lasting positive impact on health. The Hearst Health companies — FDB, Homecare Homebase, MCG, MHK, QGenda and Zynx Health — elevate care by informing and empowering participants across the health journey. To learn more, visit www.hearst.com/hearst-health and follow @Hearst Health on LinkedIn.      

About SCAN Group

SCAN Group is a mission-driven not-for-profit organization dedicated to tackling some of the biggest issues in healthcare for older adults, including chronic illness, access to care, homelessness, inequities, and loneliness. SCAN Group's Medicare Advantage health plan, SCAN Health Plan, is one of the nation's foremost not-for-profit Medicare Advantage plans and serves over 300,000 members in California, Arizona, Nevada, Texas, and New Mexico. Independence at Home, a SCAN Health Plan community service, provides vitally needed services and support to seniors and their caregivers. Since 2020, SCAN has launched four mission-aligned medical groups, including Healthcare in Action, Welcome Health, Homebase Medical and myPlace Health, each of which focuses on meeting the needs of older adults. SCAN's care delivery affiliates collectively serve more than 50,000 members. To learn more, visit www.thescangroup.org.

Contacts 

• Holly Ojalehto, Hearst Health, [email protected]
• David Sampson, UCLA Health, [email protected]

SOURCE Hearst Health