Look For Big Data Opportunities In Healthcare IT

By Megan Williams, contributing writer

It’s time to take an in-depth look at organizational data, according to Kaiser Permanente CMIO, John Mattison.

Mattison spoke at a recent health tech conference about the benefits of Big Data, qualifying the concept’s potential with the need for proper governance, standards around interoperability, and developer platforms. Perhaps most frightening though, he relayed that a lot of traditional data scientists are “freaked out about Big Data,” and that “freaked out” is an understatement.

What Scientists Know

Their fears come from experience, according to CIO. Data scientists are aware of all the dangers that can crop up when the source of a dataset is uncertain, or, in the case of pooling, the challenges that crop up around managing individual identities. Mattison added “You can get into a lot of trouble not paying attention to the details, the metadata.”

Mattison referenced numerous recent studies that address the development of EHRs and “other data-driven health initiatives.” The big takeaway, was that data is not enough. Improving patient outcomes will, much like the reshaping of the mobile world, rely on open APIs if the health ecosystem is ever going to be properly connected.

Interoperability is only the beginning — wearable devices are contributing to individual and community health data in ways the industry has never seen, and collecting that data in the proper ways is paramount.

Why Sophistication Is Needed

While the handling of data has definitely become more sophisticated, according to Mattison, more is needed, specifically in the areas of the creation and management of data and breaking down existing siloes.

To start, many organizations have started creating new senior roles like chief analytics officer. Still, Mattison emphasizes the need for subject matter expertise.

Who Else Has Noticed

According to BusinessBecause, the enormous growth of data in the healthcare sector hasn’t gone unnoticed. It notes that in 2012, 500 petabytes were stored in the sector, but that by 2020, 50 times that much is expected to be stored.

Business schools have taken notice, and begun offering data-specific business masters degrees in both the U.S. and Europe. Medical students are getting in on the game too, with many eying dual-degree programs that will prepare them for both the clinical and management aspects of their jobs.

Going Deeper

To get even deeper insight into the roll of big data in healthcare, read, The Creeping Pace Of Big Data In Healthcare — Is It A Culture Problem?