Tackling The Coming Surge In Healthcare Data With Trained Machines
By Megan Williams, contributing writer
Healthcare executives are seeing a massive surge in the data they’re dealing with — a recent survey revealed that 41 percent saw a jump of over 50 percent last year.
This means that your customers are flying into a new world of healthcare data that’s so large, new types of training will be needed. According to an Accenture report, much of that training should actually be given to machines.
The Importance Of Addressing Data
Meaningful Use Stage 3 and its focus on clinical decision support means that your clients simply won’t be able to ignore data over the next few years. The industry report, Accenture Healthcare Technology Vision 2015 echoes much the same timeline, predicting that within the next three years, the healthcare industry will begin to need to focus on training machines to deal with data just as much as it does on training people. A full 83 percent of respondents in the survey agreed that organizations will need to expend as many resources on training machines as they do employees.
The Process
This will mean that your clients will need to begin considering solutions that incorporate the use of algorithms, intelligent software, and machine learning. Kaveh Safavi, J.D., M.D. and leader of Accenture’s health business weighed in, “As the digital revolution gains momentum, doctors and clinicians will use machines to augment human labor, personalize care and manage more complex tasks. The digital revolution is also creating a data goldmine that can spark medical breakthroughs and improve individualized treatment plans.”
Benefits
Healthcare organizations will be inundated with information from disparate sources ranging from internet-connected devices, genomics, medical records, and diagnostic tests. The result is a need for (and the growth of) smart software that can take big data and turn it into better decisions and better clinical outcomes. Just about half of the executives surveyed indicated they use:
- Rule-based algorithms (59 percent)
- Machine learning (52 percent)
- Intelligent agents (49 percent)
- Predictive analytics (45 percent)
As new levels of data insights pull the industry closer to a single platform for healthcare information, organizations continue to see benefits. Of the organizations surveyed, 73 percent saw a positive ROI from their investment in associated technologies (like wearables) and most physicians (85 percent) believe that the technology improves patient engagement — so it’s a good sign that 54 percent of patients use health-monitoring smartphone apps.
Safavi added, “We’re entering an era of personalized healthcare where patients expect to have a meaningful and convenient individual health experience, both virtually and in-person. The advent of real-time patient data, smarter technologies and individualized services will help health providers break from their traditional business models and provide outcome-focused services for individuals."