EXL Spotlighted For Predictive Modeling Accuracy in Healthcare Analytics Competition

NEW YORK, Aug. 22, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- EXL (NASDAQ:EXLS), a leading business process solutions company, today announced it finished in the top two among roughly 1,500 competitors in a two-year analytics competition sponsored by the California-based Heritage Provider Network to develop models that accurately predict hospital readmissions.

Clinical analytic efforts such as these could help healthcare providers better anticipate patient needs as well as improve care plans to reach patients before emergencies occur, thereby reducing hospital stays.

"Our strong understanding of the healthcare industry combined with our deep analytics expertise drove us to be in the top two global participants in this competition," said Rembert de Villa, Executive Vice President and head of EXL's insurance and healthcare practice. "Clinical and operational analytics will be increasingly important in the healthcare industry's efforts to improve care and manage costs and we're hoping this contest, and others like it, promote prevention and improve healthcare planning and budgeting."

According to the American Hospital Association, more than 71 million individuals in the United States are admitted to hospitals each year, with a large portion of admissions being deemed "unnecessary" and costing healthcare providers upwards of $30 billion in unnecessary hospital admissions.

"EXL built more than 100 individual predictive models for the competition using techniques from the fields of statistics, econometrics, epidemiology, actuarial sciences and machine learning," said Pavan Bagai, President and Chief Operating Officer, EXL. "Companies in all industries understand the value hidden within their data, but many lack the data scientists to unearth it. EXL partners with our clients to deliver actionable insights that can impact top and bottom line business performance. In healthcare, we are leveraging our data scientists and healthcare expertise to predict clinical events like readmissions, which in turn will help our clients meet readmission targets."

EXL's Heritage Health Contest models were based on sophisticated machine learning techniques that predicted outcomes based on patients' previous hospital stays. EXL's final submission combined more than 100 models using a proprietary ensembling algorithm. The competition attracted a variety of competitors including Fortune 500 financial and technology companies, leading national healthcare practitioners, Ivy League universities, and regulatory associations.

About EXL
EXL (NASDAQ: EXLS) is a leading business process solutions company that looks deeper to drive business impact through integrated services and industry knowledge. EXL provides operations management, decision analytics and technology platforms to organizations in insurance, healthcare, banking and financial services, utilities, travel, and transportation and logistics, among others. We work as a strategic partner to help our clients streamline business operations, improve corporate finance, manage compliance, create new channels for growth and better adapt to change. Headquartered in New York and in business since 1999, EXL has more than 21,000 professionals in locations throughout the U.S., Europe and Asia. For more information, visit www.exlservice.com.

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