Big Data

There is a new initiative by the United Nations called Global Pulse, which plans to leverage Big Data for global development. The group will conduct analysis of messages in social networks and text messages to help predict things such as disease outbreaks in specific regions of the world.

And then there is the promise of the electronic medical record (EMR) to capture clinical data, which can be used to more fully understand patient populations and the efficacy of treatments and procedures. Imagine a future where armed with Big Data from millions of EMR’s we can deliver customized treatments and predict things like the “correct” length of stay for individual patients versus the “average” length of stay. The promise of Big Data to inform and refine our decisions in healthcare is–quite simply–intoxicating.

And…don’t miss how Big Data is being used to capture Big Crooks…..check it out in my newsletter “Busted by Big Data.”