Big Data is Improving Healthcare Analytics
/Big data is a very valuable asset in the healthcare industry where there are pressures to contain costs and improve member outcomes. Analyzing that data is an enormous challenge, but is important to know how to analyze it and use it to make smarter decisions about intervention and treatment options. Improved analytics and big data management is key to gaining the insight needed to deliver better health care including:
1. Finding and Targeting the Right People: Every health plan population serves members at any point on the illness-wellness continuum. Analyzing claims data, risk assessments, and member-provided information will identify at risk members and help develop a plan for better care. It is critical to know who would benefit from intervention or preventative care as a way to improve health and lower costs.
2. Delivering the Right Intervention at the Right Time: It is important to ensure that the most effective intervention is identified for each member when needed. Technological advances combined with analytics are driving improvements such as from wireless monitoring devices that postoperative members and those with chronic diseases are wearing.
3. Adjusting Programs and Closing the Loop: More information on health and patterns of care will provided useful insights that can better adjust treatment programs. For example, one recent study tested the hypothesis that exposure to a targeted care management program changed the likelihood of having appropriate medication dispensed, appropriate clinical tests performed, and increased medication adherence. The study reported that 7.3% fewer members would have had a prescription for asthma controller medication in the absence of the program.
It is reported that preventative actions could reduce the total cost of care by over $38 billion and healthcare is just beginning to reap the benefits of improved big data analytics.
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