Big data drives many activities that have the potential to transform health care
We’ve been hearing about “big data” for a while now from just about every industry except health care. Big data is basically shorthand for describing the recent trend towards exponential growth in the collection and leveraging of massive amounts of customer data for the purposes of providing better products and services in a more efficient manner.
However, in reality the healthcare industry has been making use of big data for many years in the form of HEDIS measures and HEDIS reporting. What’s interesting to note here is that programs like HEDIS may just be the tip of the iceberg. Here’s a brief overview of some of the ways that data can be leveraged to provide better care.
Evaluating Performance
HEDIS measures are extremely useful in evaluating the performance of a health plan from year to year. HEDIS measures cover 8 separate domains of care, allowing health plans to get a data-driven picture of availability of care, patient satisfaction, relative resource use, and care outcomes.
Identifying At-Risk Patients
By providing the opportunity to analyze patient data before writing a prescription or recommending a treatment, big data can help health plan providers identify patients who may have chronic conditions or other problems that put them at high-risk for serious medical problems. These patients can then be targeted for more preventative care, which can not only reduce costs but also improve patient quality of life. For example, a health plan could pull records for children with asthma and send the children’s parents flu shot reminders, thereby helping to reduce the risk of an asthmatic child suffering flu complications.
Improving Resource Use
By not only collecting patient care data in an electronic format (electronic medical record), but also using that data to create a comprehensive patient history (electronic health record) that can be shared between providers, big data can help providers better coordinate their efforts for more efficient and effective care. For example, duplicate tests and procedures can be avoided, and new providers can begin treatment faster.
More Patient Participation
Another way that collecting electronic data about each patient can change the current healthcare landscape is by making it easier for patients to take a more active role in their own care. Some health plan providersare already including a patient access portal as part of their electronic health record system. Patients can use this portal to view their medical history. For example, they might use it to track their lab results and get motivated to take their medications and/or keep up with recommended lifestyle changes affecting those results. Patients can also schedule appointments and ask questions that may aid in the early identification of symptoms.
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