Professional Scientist 3

Big data within the health care industry is about to get even bigger as a result of the move toward electronic health reports. Electronic medical records are obtaining a boost due to the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. Consequently, medical researchers can expect a huge influx of healthcare data to analyze.

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

High-cost patients - Did you realize that just 5% of patients account for roughly half of all US healthcare costs? By targeting these high-cost patients, big data has the possibility to make a large influence on total healthcare spending in the nation. This is the best respiratory medicine example of the Pareto principle at the job.

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 be used to enhance the triage process by applying algorithms to send patients to the correct unit for care and ensuring that everybody involved with providing that care is promptly informed through the process.

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

Adverse events - No one wishes to have problems with an adverse health event such as infection, a drug reaction, or renal failure. These events often contribute to death, yet will often 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, in turn, would help healthcare providers develop a more effective, as well as more cost-effective, course of action.

While these areas all represent significant opportunities for medical researchers as well as the health care sector at large, how can researchers possibly make sense of all that data? In accordance with Dolphin, "Big Data relates to the truth 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 usage of business intelligence and data archiving software. With the proper tools in hand, medical researchers possess the ability to make feeling of the sheer volumes of healthcare data from the past, present, and future.