Impact of Big Data Analytics in the Healthcare Industry
By Amendri Withanage
Data is generated on a daily basis all around the world for different purposes in various industries such as crime investigation, weather prediction, sales forecasting etc. In this article we will discuss how big data analytics are used in the healthcare industry and how it has impacted the industry for the better. With the recent outrageous breakouts of pandemics, the survival and growth of healthcare industry is more vital than ever. With the increase of population, the treatment delivery methods evolves fast and some of it could be based on data.
The biggest difference between traditional forms of healthcare analysis and big data analysis is that big data health analytics are bound with computer programming. The big data analysis field has the potential to give out necessary insights to arrive into conclusions in the healthcare industry. Big data can help to improve delivery of healthcare for a much less cost than it usually costs while supporting improved patient outcomes. Essentially, it can be determined that big data plays a major role in healthcare sector to manage data sets related to healthcare, which are much hard to process using software and other management tools(Kumar & Singh, 2019). There is a vast and diverse forms of data that can be challenging for the healthcare informatics stakeholders to develop methods for the processing of the big data. Some of the frameworks used for this purpose can be named as ‘Predictive Analysis in Healthcare’, which is the process of data mining and machine learning to examine the historic and current data. There are also other methods such as ‘Machine Learning in Healthcare’, which involves using machine learning to improve program’s understanding and ‘Electronic Health Records’ where a patient’s records are recorded in a secure information system (Herland et al., 2014).
Big data can be defined as an information asset with high volume, velocity and variety which requires a certain technology to transform the data into information. Big data is different from usual sets of data processed by organizations. Big data is too large to be captured by traditional methods therefore it requires new tools to manage the volume, variety and velocity (Agrawal & Choudhary, 2016). Organizations must approach the unstructured data using a different method. They should consider the data as flows, not stocks. This creates the need to implement streaming analytics. The big data analytics creates opportunities to access valuable insights, through analysis that leads to make more accurate decisions in healthcare industry.
The big data concept is evolving and it does not focus on huge data sets rather on the creation of value using the data. The objectives of an organization is to manage and create valuable insights that helps them be more efficient in their business processes. The various types of big data streams in the healthcare sector can be recognized as clinical data, biometric data, financial data, data from scientific research activities, data provided by patients and data from social media. The healthcare sector had always generated a large amount of data that is interconnected. The big data has the potential to improve quality of healthcare, saving lives and to reduce the cost of healthcare through offering more accurate and more insightful diagnosis to patients. Preventive healthcare for patients, personalized treatment, new discovery of treatment methods, support the medical research as well as to improve the quality of the medical services using big data analytics. The ultimate result of big data analytics in the healthcare sector is appropriate data interpretation that can help make decisions with lower risk and they can in return benefit healthcare stakeholders. Some of the big data analytics applications used in healthcare industry are Diagnostics, Patients treatments, Precision medicine, preventive medicine ,telemedicine, health population support, medical research, cost reductions (Batko & Ślęzak, 2022).
Big data analytics has the potential to revolutionize outcomes in the healthcare informatics. Big data analytics will have a strong effect on the healthcare services in five different pathways such as below (Kumar & Singh, 2019).
Right living : By using the data mining, patients can have access to better choices that enhances their well being that allows the patient to live a healthier life.
Right care : Right care refers to the patient will be given the most appropriate treatment based on the healthcare informatics.
Right provider : The accessibility of health informatics enables a healthcare provider to develop skills to provide the most appropriate treatment for the patient.
Right innovation : This pathway refers to recognizing new treatment method, new diagnosis methods using big data.
Right Value : Refers to that big data analytics helps to improve the quality and value of healthcare services.
It is evident that big data analytics can affect the healthcare industry to redefine it’s boundaries. Utilizing big data analytics using the correct techniques enables healthcare providers to improve the quality of their service at the same time giving the best possible treatment method for each patient so that the patient can lead a better life. In today’s context healthcare has evolved greatly with the help of technology and it keeps evolving and growing by the day. In this article we discussed how vital it is to utilize big data analytics using correct techniques and how important it is for organizations to consider big data as a flow rather than a stock. Big data analytics are vastly used by healthcare industry even today and in the future, healthcare industry will revolutionize with the help of insights generated through big data analytics.
Keywords: Big Data Analytics, Big Data Analytics in Healthcare Industry, Healthcare informatics, Information systems, Big Data analytics applications , Data interpretation
By Amendri Withanage
References
Kumar, S. and Singh, M. (2019) “Big Data Analytics for healthcare industry: Impact, applications, and Tools,” Big Data Mining and Analytics, 2(1), pp. 48–57. Available at: https://doi.org/10.26599/bdma.2018.9020031.
Herland, M., Khoshgoftaar, T.M. and Wald, R. (2014) “A review of data mining using Big Data in health informatics,” Journal Of Big Data, 1(1). Available at: https://doi.org/10.1186/2196-1115-1-2.
Batko, K. and Ślęzak, A. (2022) “The use of Big Data Analytics in Healthcare,” Journal of Big Data, 9(1). Available at: https://doi.org/10.1186/s40537-021-00553-4.
Agrawal, A. and Choudhary, A. (2016) “Health Services Data: Big data analytics for deriving predictive healthcare insights,” Data and Measures in Health Services Research, pp. 1–17. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-7673-4_2-1.
Big Data has been a grey area in my head. I was not well versed in this area and it always felt like an unfathomable topic to me. However, reading this article it helped me understand the value and how Big Data can actually come into play in the healthcare sector. With the growing demands of patients' needs, it helps identify the correct procedures, the correct care, correct innovation etc. The use of data analytics has certainly expanded the horizons of the healthcare industry. This article was insightful and helped me expand my own knowledge in an area I was not confident to speak openly about. It was certainly a post packed with knowledge!
ReplyDeleteVery well written & informative article highlighting the potential benefits of big data analytics in the healthcare industry, particularly in terms of improving patient outcomes while reducing costs. The use of predictive analysis and machine learning to analyze large and complex data sets has the potential to revolutionize the way healthcare is delivered. This article also highlights the different pathways that big data analytics can impact the healthcare industry. Overall, the article provides valuable insights into the potential of big data analytics to transform the healthcare industry and improve patient care. I have learned a lot from this informative blog and now I’m more attracted towards Big Data. Thank you for sharing such a wonderful blog.
ReplyDeleteReally appreciate the way it has been explained.
ReplyDeletethis is a very enlightening post, as I have always wondered why Big data is so important in the health care industry. it is really good to know that there are now different technologies that can be used in the health care industry to improve the well being of patients and make work easier for health care workers. if there is anything i have learnt from this post is that the role of big data in health care cannot be overemphasized, with the help of big data health care workers can improve the quality of life of their patients , it is very necessary for health care workers and health organisations to familiarize themselves with big data and the effect it has in the health care industry.
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