Description: This chapter focuses on creating practical models that aid in the prediction of the risk of readmission to a specific hospital within 30 days of discharge for Medicare patients, to aid in the identification and stratification of at-risk patients for hospitals considering building an intervention program in a cost-effective manner. For readers who wish to develop their own predictive model, a dataset is provided on the Actexmadriver.com website, and R code is provided in the appendix to this chapter.

Description: Predictive modeling continues to gain traction in the life insurance industry with the rapid growth of available data and maturity of open source tools. New methods and technology in predictive analytics have enabled the evaluation of extremely large data more quickly and allow us to incorporate features previously not considered. The presenters will provide background on predictive modeling tools and algorithms utilized by actuaries and data scientists for life insurance, highlighting applications from marketing to underwriting.

Description: Maintaining solid financial performance is a KPI for senior management. With the advancement of technology, the management can leverage new techniques to improve their decision making and focus on higher value activities in a timely manner. This presentation sets out the use of 1. correlation analysis to draw relationship between financial metrics and 2. smart analytics techniques, including text mining and analytics, to identify trends and drivers that impact the valuation of a company. We will also assess how the results of a comprehensive financial analysis could influence risk management considerations, including business steering and risk strategy.

Description: This research report addresses two purposes: [1] to incorporate phase transitions into a copula framework, and [2] to calculate the probability of defaulting in the context of a portfolio of correlated mortgages when a contagion effect exists. Understanding and measuring the effects that contagion has on the probability of defaulting, for both single assets and portfolios of assets, are crucial to collateralized debt obligation [CDO] markets.

Description: Research project that reviewed and inventoried the range of quality and efficiency measures that demonstrate the performance of hospitals and physicians. Besides outlining key areas of consideration for quality and efficiency measurement, this report also describes future opportunities for actuaries and other health professionals interested in this evolving area. The inventory part of this report is in a separate document.

Description: By disinformation we mean the inclusion of data that should not be considered in a study. In this paper we discuss a case in which the presence of disinformation was clear, but it was not possible to determine with certainly which records were extraneous.

Description: A description of the Technology Section's goals and accomplishments.

Description: Letter from the editor describing the contents of the issue.

Description: This article shares our experience of using the cloud to do large-scale parallel processing and discusses some background regarding the cloud.