4 Ways Big Data Is Changing Healthcare

Big data might sound like a fancy industry buzzword, but the truth of the matter is that these new applications for computer and cloud technology are changing the healthcare industry for the better.

What big changes have happened already thanks to big data, and what could it do for healthcare in the future?

Heart attacks and other cardiovascular disease are the cause of an enormous number of deaths every year – the American Heart Association estimates that upwards of 2,000 people die from cardiovascular-related conditions every day.

Big data could potentially change that with two different tools – remote monitoring and smartphone apps.

By pairing big data with a single lead EEG that’s started emerging in the market recently, patients who require cardiac monitoring don’t have to be restricted to a hospital room – they can be monitored remotely during their daily activities.

This creates a more accurate picture of the patient’s cardiac health and can also alert medical professionals to cardiac events that need to be addressed by emergency personnel.

This same signal lead EEG technology can be paired with smartphone apps. The patient wears small adhesive patches under their clothing, and all of the information can be fed to a remote monitoring app.

This is where big data comes into play – by collecting patient data, software can be created using machine learning algorithms to monitor that data, track cardiac health trends, and eventually even predict when a cardiac event is likely to occur.

Until recently, healthcare wasn’t a field that really required the services of a Chief Information Officer (CIO). Their expertise was used almost exclusively for vendor relationships and the establishment of infrastructure.

Big data is changing the way that healthcare information is gathered, stored and shared, making the position of the CIO one that will have to change with it.