title: Early experiences with big data at an academic medical center.
abstract: Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), an academic health care institution affiliated with Harvard University, has been an early adopter of electronic applications since the 1970s. Various departments of the medical center and the physician practice groups affiliated with it have implemented electronic health records, filmless imaging, and networked medical devices to such an extent that data storage at BIDMC now amounts to three petabytes and continues to grow at a rate of 25 percent a year. Initially, the greatest technical challenge was the cost and complexity of data storage. However, today the major focus is on transforming raw data into information, knowledge, and wisdom. This article discusses the data growth, increasing importance of analytics, and changing user requirements that have shaped the management of big data at BIDMC.
authors.affiliation: John D. Halamka (jhalamka@caregroup.harvard.edu) is an associate professor of medicine and chief information officer at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, in Roxbury Crossing, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: John D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Halamka
mesh_terms: D000046:Academic Medical Centers; D001900:Boston; D057225:Data Mining / Q000379:methods*; D066264:Datasets as Topic; D020000:Decision Support Systems, Clinical / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D057286:Electronic Health Records; D006801:Humans; D008490:Medical Informatics / Q000639:trends; D011787:Quality of Health Care
keywords: Health Reform; Information Technology; Quality Of Care