Quality Scientists 6

Big data within the medical industry is about to get even bigger because of the move toward electronic health records. Electronic medical records are receiving a boost because of the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. Therefore, medical researchers may anticipate an enormous influx of healthcare data to analyze.

The scientific community is abuzz about the possibility of big data in the medical research arena. According to Science 2.0, a science blog, several of the clearest opportunities recently identified in the area revolve around reducing costs in several key areas:

High-cost patients - Did you know that just five percent 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 impact on total healthcare spending within the usa. This is a good 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 be used to enhance the triage process by applying algorithms to send patients to the correct unit for care and ensuring that everybody involved in providing that care is promptly informed throughout the process.

Decompensation - Decompensation refers to a patient's worsening health condition. Patient monitoring tools such as heart-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 ahead of the patient's condition worsens.

Adverse events - No one wishes to have problems with an adverse health event for example infection, a drug reaction, or renal failure. These events often bring about 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 may be better able to predict the likely progression of a disease which, in return, would help healthcare providers develop a far more effective, as well as more cost-effective, plan for treatment.

While these areas all represent significant opportunities for medical researchers and also the health care industry at large, how can researchers possibly make sense of all that data? In line 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 use of business intelligence and data archiving software. With the right tools in hand, associate professor medical researchers have the capability to make feeling of the sheer volumes of healthcare data from the past, present, and future.