Physician Advice 2

Big data within the medical industry will be around to get even bigger due to the move toward electronic medical reports. Electronic medical records are getting a boost as a result of the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. So, medical researchers may expect a tremendous influx of healthcare data to analyze.

The scientific community is abuzz about the potential for big data in the medical research arena. In line with Science 2.0, a science blog, several of the clearest opportunities recently identified inside this area revolve around reducing costs in several key areas:

High-cost patients - Did you know that just 5 percent of patients account for roughly half of all US healthcare costs? recent post by Aligarh Edu targeting these high-cost patients, big data has the potential to make an enormous impact on total healthcare spending within the usa. This is a good example of the Pareto principle at the workplace.

Readmissions - With nearly one-third of readmissions deemed to be preventable, using big data to predict which patients are at a high risk of readmission could lead to better interventions and reduced re-admissions.

Triage - Big data could additionally be used to enhance the triage process by applying algorithms to send patients to the correct unit for care and ensuring that everybody associated with providing that care is promptly informed throughout the process.

Decompensation - Decompensation refers to a patient's worsening health condition. Patient monitoring tools such as pulse rate and blood pressure level monitors are used to measure a patient's current condition. Using big data, researchers may be better able to determine the risk of decompensation, allowing healthcare providers to intervene prior to the patient's condition worsens.

Adverse events - Nobody wishes to experience an adverse health event for example infection, a drug reaction, or renal failure. These events often result in death, yet tend to be preventable. Big data could make huge gains in both preventing adverse events and slashing their associated costs.

Diseases affecting multiple organ systems - Systemic diseases that affect multiple organ systems are among-the costliest to treat and manage. Using big data, medical researchers could be better able to predict the likely progression of a disease which, subsequently, would help healthcare providers develop a more effective, and more cost-effective, treatment solution.

While these areas all represent significant opportunities for medical researchers as well as the medical industry at large, how can researchers possibly make feeling of all that data? According to Dolphin, "Big Data relates to the fact that today's business intelligence systems are experiencing record levels of data growth from terabytes to petabytes and beyond. The challenge is in maximizing the opportunity for real-time business intelligence while minimizing the impact of exploding data volume on productivity and total cost of ownership (TCO)."

This really is done through the utilization of business intelligence and data archiving software. With the right tools in hand, medical researchers possess the capability to make experience of the sheer volumes of healthcare data from the past, present, and future.