Quality Patient Care Guidance 5
Big data in the healthcare industry will be close to to get even bigger as a result of the move toward electronic medical records. Electronic medical records are acquiring a boost due to the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. Consequently, medical researchers may expect an enormous influx of healthcare data to analyze.
The scientific community is abuzz about the possibility of big data within the medical research arena. Based on Science 2.0, a science blog, several of the clearest opportunities recently identified in this area revolve around reducing costs in several key areas:
High-cost patients - Did you know 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 tremendous effect on total healthcare spending in the nation. This really is an excellent example of the Pareto principle on 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 additionally be used to enhance the triage process by applying algorithms to send patients to the correct unit for care and ensuring that everyone involved in providing that care is promptly informed through the process.
Decompensation - Decompensation refers to a patient's worsening health condition. Patient monitoring tools such as pulse rate and blood pressure monitors are used to measure a professional patient care's current condition. Using big data, researchers might be better able to determine the risk of decompensation, allowing healthcare providers to intervene ahead of the patient's condition worsens.
Adverse events - No one wants to have problems with an adverse health event such as infection, a drug reaction, or renal failure. These events often lead to death, yet are often 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 return, would help healthcare providers develop a more effective, and a lot more cost-effective, treatment solution.
While these areas all represent significant opportunities for medical researchers and also the medical sector at large, how can researchers possibly make feeling of all that data? According to 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 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.
