Arrani
Senthinathan
Canada
Area of Research
Dr. Senthinathan's research centers on the use of health administrative data to analyze healthcare systems, service delivery, and organizational performance. She examines how large-scale health data can be leveraged to understand patterns of healthcare utilization, evaluate system efficiency, and inform strategic decision-making. A key focus of her work is improving the use, extraction, and methodological application of administrative health data to support healthcare management, policy design, and system planning. Integrating strategic management, implementation science, and healthcare analytics, her research not only informs data-driven management strategies and quality improvement initiatives, but also contributes to the development of training and educational approaches for current and future healthcare managers. Through this work, Dr. Senthinathan aims to build more efficient, responsive, and sustainable healthcare systems while strengthening the capacity of leaders who manage them.
Research Challenge
Dr. Senthinathan's research is shaped by two interconnected challenges within healthcare management and health systems research. The first involves leveraging health administrative data for meaningful system improvement. Although these datasets provide extensive insight into healthcare utilization and system performance, they have limitations in data structure, clinical detail, and documentation practices. As such, they may not fully reflect all individuals healthcare needs or gaps in care. The second challenge focuses on enhancing healthcare management training, a rapidly growing field with increasing complexity and limited research. Dr. Senthinathan's work seeks to bridge these gaps by improving the use of administrative data for system evaluation and by developing educational approaches to improve training for healthcare managers.
Proposed Solution
Dr. Senthinathan's proposed solution addresses both the effective use of health administrative data and the advancement of healthcare management training. To improve the utility of administrative data for system planning and decision-making, she continues to refine and explore methods for data extraction, interpretation, and application. She also uses administrative data to tackle current healthcare system challenges. In parallel, through her Assistant Professor position in Management at Niagara University, Dr. Senthinathan works to strengthen the education and training of healthcare managers. By developing evidence-informed training and teaching strategies, she aims to equips current and future healthcare leaders and managers with the skills needed for real-world decision-making.
Impact to Date
As an early-career researcher, Dr. Senthinathan has made significant contributions to health systems research and healthcare management education. Her work with health administrative data has informed policy, quality improvement, and strategic decision-making, while her research has been widely disseminated through publications, presentations, invited talks, a knowledge mobilization exhibit at the Ontario Science Centre, and clinical learning modules actively in use. She has been recognized with a prestigious CIHR fellowship and multiple teaching and research awards, highlighting the impact and excellence of her work.
Publications
Keywords: Health Services Research, Healthcare Management, Administrative Data, Health Equity