title: Using big data for quality assessment in oncology.
abstract: There is increasing attention in the US healthcare system on the delivery of high-quality care, an issue central to oncology. In the report 'Crossing the Quality Chasm', the Institute of Medicine identified six aims for improving healthcare quality: safe, effective, patient-centered, timely, efficient and equitable. This article describes how current big data resources can be used to assess these six dimensions, and provides examples of published studies in oncology. Strengths and limitations of current big data resources for the evaluation of quality of care are also discussed. Finally, this article outlines a vision where big data can be used not only to retrospectively assess the quality of oncologic care, but help physicians deliver high-quality care in real time.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, CB #7512, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA.|School of Medicine, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
authors.forename: James R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Broughman
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, CB #7512, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA.|School of Medicine, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.|Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
authors.forename: Ronald C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D003625:Data Collection; D003695:Delivery of Health Care; D006801:Humans; D018802:Patient-Centered Care; D010820:Physicians; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D013223:Statistics as Topic
keywords: big data; cancer; quality of care; registries