Tuesday, July 7, 2015

Big Data Big Healthcare Big Challenges

Healthcare has always been Big Data Podcast intensive. Medicine has developed so quickly we have generated a lot of data: clinical trials, doctors’ notes, patient therapies, pharmacists’ notes, medical literature and, most importantly, structured analysis of the data sets in analytical models.

And while insurance rates are skyrocketing, insurance companies are trying hard to vie for wallet share. However, you can’t ignore the strong influence of social media.

On the provider side, the small number of physicians and specialists available versus the growing need for them is becoming a larger problem. Additionally, obtaining second and third expert opinions for any situation to avoid medical malpractice lawsuits has created a need for sharing knowledge and seeking advice.

On the therapy side, there are several smart machines capable of sending readings to multiple receivers, including doctors’ mobile phones. We have become successful in reducing or eliminating latencies and have many treatment alternatives, but we do not know where best to apply them.

There is a lot of data available, but not all of it is being harnessed into powerful information. Clearly, healthcare remains one of our nation’s data-rich, yet information-poor industries. It is clear that we must start producing better information, at a faster rate and on a larger scale.

Before cost reductions and meaningful improvements in outcomes can be delivered, relevant information is necessary. The challenge is that while the data is available today, the systems to harness it have not been available. Until Now?

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