Mitch Higashi

Chief Economist, GE Healthcare

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SimIndia: Solving Real Healthcare Problems in the Virtual World

Government decision-makers in growth markets such as India face many competing needs as they seek to develop 21st century healthcare systems that can most efficiently alleviate barriers to patient access. The decision to build a new hospital must factor in many criteria, such as cost, location, services offered, technicians required, reliable energy, and access to clean water. In addition, the return on investment must be quantified as the long-term health and economic benefits realized by citizens in the region.

SimIndia is a new software program developed by GE Healthcare and Mad*Pow that combines game design with real-world data in order to simplify complex information and assist the decision-making process that guides investments in healthcare infrastructure. SimIndia integrates multiple, real-world data sets with advanced computer simulation modeling beneath an interface designed to make the user’s experience intuitive and insightful.

Bio

As Chief Economist for GE Healthcare, Mitch Higashi leads a team that is responsible for health economics, global pricing, reimbursement, and health policy. His team seeks to demonstrate the value of healthcare technology by improving cost, quality, and access for all stakeholders. He is based in Chicago, Illinois.

Prior to joining GE, Mitch was the North American Head of Health Economics for GlaxoSmithKline, responsible for the cardiovascular and diabetes portfolio.

Mitch served as co-chair for the ISPOR 2007 US meeting and currently serves on the corporate advisory board for the University of Washington School of Pharmacy.

As a published author in JAMA, Mitch’s work in molecular diagnostics has been featured in The Wall Street Journal and on National Public Radio. Mitch is a graduate of the University of British Columbia (BSc., Biotechnology) and The Wharton School and he holds a PhD from the University of Washington, Pharmaceutical Outcomes Research & Policy Program.

About GE Healthcare

GE Healthcare provides transformational medical technologies and services that are shaping a new age of patient care. Our expertise in medical imaging and information technologies, medical diagnostics, patient monitoring systems, performance improvement, drug discovery, and biopharmaceutical manufacturing technologies is helping clinicians around the world re-imagine new ways to predict, diagnose, inform, treat and monitor disease, so patients can live their lives to the fullest.

GE Healthcare's broad range of products and services enable healthcare providers to better diagnose and treat cancer, heart disease, neurological diseases and other conditions earlier. Our vision for the future is to enable a new "early health" model of care focused on earlier diagnosis, pre-symptomatic disease detection and disease prevention. Headquartered in the United Kingdom, GE Healthcare is a $17 billion unit of General Electric Company (NYSE: GE). Worldwide, GE Healthcare employs more than 46,000 people committed to serving healthcare professionals and their patients in more than 100 countries.

Select Presentations, Research, and Publications

• “Economic Strategy for Health Care through Bio and Information Standards and Technologies: Marketplace Economics,” National Institute of Standards and Technology. Gaithersburg, MD, Sept. 25th, 2007.
• “PERSONAL DOSE. In Milestone, FDA Pushes Genetic Tests Tied to Drug,” The Wall Street Journal. Aug. 16th, 2007.
• “Modeling the costs and benefits of lymphatic filariasis elimination in developing countries through mass drug administration. Technical Advisory Group,” World Health Organization. Geneva, Switzerland, Sept. 25th, 2005.
• Higashi MK, Veenstra DL, Kondo LM, Wittkowsky AK, Srinouanprachanh SL, Farin FM, Rettie AE. Association Between CYP2C9 Genetic Variants and Anticoagulation-Related Outcomes During Warfarin Therapy. JAMA 2002 Apr 3;287(13):1690-8.
• Higashi MK & Veenstra DL. Managed care in the genomics era: Guidelines for evaluating the cost-effectiveness of genetic tests. American Journal of Managed Care 2003 Jul;9(7):493-500.
• Ramsey SD, Clarke L, Etzioni R, Higashi MK, Berry K, Urban N. The cost-effectiveness of genetic screening for hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer using the Bethesda Guidelines. Annals of Internal Medicine 2001 Oct 16;135(8 Pt 1):577-88.