What is big data analytics? It is analyzing huge amounts of data in an attempt to locate patterns, connections, correlations, or other types of information that can be helpful to an organization. The goal of big data analysis is to help in the decision-making process of organizations by giving them information not available by traditional means.
Businesses have been using these techniques for a number of years. Healthcare, however, is lagging in the big data arena because of the slower pace of moving over to electronic health records. Now that healthcare organizations are moving to electronic records, it has opened the way for aggregation of clinical and financial data previously unavailable.
The analysis of big data will become ever more important with all of the changes in healthcare taking place, changes in the way care is delivered and payment is made. Mining the data can help to determine how effective and efficient patient care really is.
Leaders in the healthcare industry realize the importance of big data. A recent survey showed that a majority consider big data analytics to be among the highest priorities going forward. Although leaders understand its importance, because of its novelty, they are unsure how to approach the issue of big data and how to make the best use of it.
Hospitals are now collecting huge amounts of data from a variety of sources. The data itself, is still in an unstructured form – data is scattered across different formats, such as email, text message and video, as well as multiple software formats being used. The facilities are having a hard time managing all of the information. Data sets are becoming so large and complex that they are having more difficulty in capturing the data, storing it, searching it, analyzing it, and sharing it with the technology they have available.
Plus, there needs to be some type of standardization to determine what data should be stored and how, as well as how it should be shared. The different types of data that need to be stored range from images to genomic information and health history.
The good news is that hospitals are making an effort to attack this issue. . Many report collecting more data than ever, and most are employing some type of data analysis software. Experts advise hospitals to begin with small data-mining projects that can demonstrate their effectiveness, and then build from there, constantly re-evaluating.
If you have experience in big data analytics, we want to hear from you! Here at Morgan Hunter Healthcare, our clients are clamoring for professionals with these skills. Contact us today to learn more about these great opportunities!