title: Creating value in health care through big data: opportunities and policy implications.
abstract: Big data has the potential to create significant value in health care by improving outcomes while lowering costs. Big data's defining features include the ability to handle massive data volume and variety at high velocity. New, flexible, and easily expandable information technology (IT) infrastructure, including so-called data lakes and cloud data storage and management solutions, make big-data analytics possible. However, most health IT systems still rely on data warehouse structures. Without the right IT infrastructure, analytic tools, visualization approaches, work flows, and interfaces, the insights provided by big data are likely to be limited. Big data's success in creating value in the health care sector may require changes in current polices to balance the potential societal benefits of big-data approaches and the protection of patients' confidentiality. Other policy implications of using big data are that many current practices and policies related to data use, access, sharing, privacy, and stewardship need to be revised.
authors.affiliation: Joachim Roski (Roski_joachim@bah.com) is a principal at Booz Allen Hamilton in McLean, Virginia.
authors.forename: Joachim
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Roski
authors.affiliation: George W. Bo-Linn is a senior adviser in the Improvement Division, Alvarez and Marsal, in San Francisco, California.
authors.forename: George W
authors.initials: GW
authors.lastname: Bo-Linn
authors.affiliation: Timothy A. Andrews is a vice president on the health team at Booz Allen Hamilton in McLean.
authors.forename: Timothy A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Andrews
mesh_terms: D016494:Computer Security; D003219:Confidentiality; D057225:Data Mining / Q000379:methods*; D066264:Datasets as Topic; D003695:Delivery of Health Care; D057286:Electronic Health Records; D063025:Health Information Management; D006801:Humans
keywords: Cost of Health Care; Information Technology; Quality Of Care; Research And Technology