The Creeping Pace Of Big Data In Healthcare — Is It A Culture Problem?

By Megan Williams, contributing writer

The buzz around Big Data as the future of multiple industries isn’t stopping. It is, however, impossible to have that conversation and ignore how differently things have played out in the healthcare space.

This is especially problematic when you consider the industry’s pivotal new focus on patient-centered care, much of which is driven by, and reflected in initiatives like health information exchanges (HIE) and accountable care organizations (ACO).

Big Data And Point Of Care

Healthcare Informatics asked Munzoor Shaikh, a senior manager at consulting firm, West Monroe Partners’ healthcare practice, to discuss the state of the industry and its relationship to Big Data.

Shaikh believes that while most facilities are incorporating Big Data into point of care in the clinical setting, most are not doing it well. The majority of facilities are focusing on the “low-hanging fruit” of reducing readmissions, but that is an elementary start when compared to the potential that Big Data holds.

Shaikh looks at analytics as a value chain in itself, which he breaks down into four parts:

• Access. While hospitals process a lot of data, they frequently only have access to one type. That leaves many missing pieces of the puzzle — sometimes claims data, sometimes demographics, and sometimes biometric markers. Having access is a critical component of creating a complete value chain.
• Aggregation. Shaikh acknowledges that this is where most of the healthcare industry’s efforts have fallen. Despite that, few organizations know how to aggregate data in meaningful ways, leaving them missing out on the benefit of truly meaningful analytics. He says this is quite common among health plans, which can aggregate claims data, but not lab data — or they’re in a situation where they cannot aggregate claims and clinical data together very well overall.
• Analytics. According to Shaikh, this part of the chain only makes sense once you’ve established the first two. In healthcare, it’s being used to address hospital readmissions, but that’s something that should have taken place a long time ago.
• Application. Shaikh says this is “the educational and engagement processes that are built around behavioral change.”

Big Data’s Healthcare Future

While Shaikh acknowledges the slow movement, he also has hope over the next five years, that the readmission issue will be solved, and the industry will move on to attack other meaningful goals like chronic diseases and moving point of care beyond hospital walls.

Overall, Shaikh sees Big Data as contributing to improved lives for patients, and believes that patients themselves can play a critical role in contributing to Big Data through patient-generated health data.

“We have this problem in our healthcare system where we wait until we get sick and need care, and then at the point of care we need to do something. At that point, many things have gone wrong. What about all the other points of living? That’s what the Big Data vision really is, and you see wellness companies going in that direction. To me, that has a quicker future, but not necessarily as a high as [sic] a return as readmissions, which people are paying more attention to because they’re so expensive.”

Click here to read more of Munzoor Shaikh’s insights into Big Data in the health setting.