Key takeaways
Big data in health care can drive insights, improve outcomes, help cut costs, and drive digital innovation.
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What is big data in health care?
Big data refers to large data sets consisting of both structured and unstructured data that are analyzed to find insights, trends, and patterns. Most commonly, big data is defined by the three Vs—volume, velocity, and variety—meaning that it has a high volume of data that is generated quickly and consists of different data types, such as text, images, graphs, or videos [2,3].
In health care, big data is generated by various sources and analyzed to guide decision-making, improve patient outcomes, and decrease health care costs, among other things. Some of the most common sources of big data in health care include electronic health records (EHRs), electronic medical records (EMRs), personal health records (PHRs), and data produced by widespread digital health tools such as wearable medical devices and health apps on mobile devices.
Examples of big data analytics in health care
Perhaps the most common source of big data in health care is electronic health records (EHRs), which typically contain a patient’s medical history, demographic information, medications, immunizations, test results, and progress notes. While in the past this information was put down in handwritten files that were easily misplaced, difficult to share, and occasionally illegible, today, EHRs allow health care professionals to easily access a patient’s pertinent medical information and provide the best possible care.
What is health care data?
Health care data is any kind of data relating to health conditions, quality of life, and health outcomes. Health care data can be produced by everything from wearable devices such as smart watches to patient records and medical imaging technology.
As a result, health data can be used to track the quality of care provided by health care systems, provide guidance for clinical decision-making, and even track risk factors that may be warning signs a patient could develop a particular medical condition, among other things.
Health data provides benefits to patients, health care professionals, health facilities, and health systems.
Big data and analytics in health care explained
Data professionals working in health care use big data for a variety of applications, from simply improving the patient experience to creating complex machine learning models capable of diagnosing medical conditions using X-ray scans. To accomplish these feats, data professionals use analytics to effectively manage and analyze big data to produce insights, identify patterns and trends, and guide decision-making.
The impact of big data in health care is huge, and the market has grown to match it. According to research conducted by Grand View Research, the North American market value for big data analytics in health care is projected to grow by 19.6 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) from 2024 to 2030 [1]. Just as big data lays the foundation for big advances in health care, it has also drawn investment for further growth.
How can big data be used in health care?
Professionals in health care use big data for a wide range of purposes—from developing insights into biomedical research to providing patients with personalized medicine. Here are just some of the ways that big data is used in health care today:
Benefits of big data in the health care industry
Big data has the potential to improve health care for the better. Here are some of the most common benefits of using big data in health care:
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Improved research: Big data gives medical researchers unprecedented access to a large volume of data and methods of collecting data. In turn, this data can drive important medical breakthroughs that save lives.
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Reduced health care costs for patients and health care providers: Health care can cost a lot. Big data offers the possibility of reducing the cost of obtaining and providing health care by identifying appropriate treatment plans, allocating resources intelligently, and identifying potential health issues before they occur.
Big data analytics jobs in health care
There are many jobs that use big data analytics in health care. Here are some of the most common that you’ll likely encounter as you explore the field:
Read more: What Is Big Data Storage? Definition, Uses, and More
Is health care a good career path?
Health care is a fast-growing field. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the number of open positions in the health care industry is expected to grow much faster than average, resulting in about 1.9 million job openings a year between 2025 and 2035 [4].
This marked job growth is due to an increasing need for medical professionals capable of taking care of an aging population, as well as the retirement of former health care professionals.
The high demand for health care workers indicates the field is likely to be stable for the foreseeable future.
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