| | November 20189UTLOOKHealthcare Tech something fell into place. Big data is real. It is more than simply a matter of size; desire, data and doubt. Big data is the desire for new insights and opportunity. Big data burst the limit, the dialogue and drives down doubt. You see big data is predictive. Large health systems and academic medical centers like Kaiser Permanente, The Cleveland Clinics, and Geisinger Health System, I am sure are doing big data. They use big data as an opportunity to find insights in new and emerging types of questions. It is not seeking a specific answer, they use it predicatively and, I suppose, are positioned to respond accordingly. Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems add to this confusion. AI will have an impact on health care and will make my organization better at what it does but the growth into AI has to be evolutionary. We have to build the early skill to benefit from information.Most of us at the community hospital however are not doing big data, we are doing crucial analytics; desire, data and doubt. Analytics has the desire to bring items together. It sets limits on its data, and drives up doubt. Analytics is generally retroactive. It targets a specific question and seeks a specific answer. When I am looking for HbA1C over 10 in the primary zip codes of my hospital, I am doing analytics. When I compare physician utilization on a DRG, I am doing analytics. When I know there is a specific answer, I am doing analytics. And, there is the difference. Big data is predictive and demands no specific result while analytics is retroactive and seeks a specific answer. I think most of us are doing analytics. Big data demands data scientist and big budgets. How many community hospitals can afford the human and financial resources of big data? Not many I suspect.Analytics, however, has its place and is getting lost in all the talk of big data. I want to do analytics. I want to understand the nature of my population. I want to offer appropriate services to my community. I want my patients to trust my health system to treat them well. But when vendors come to my hospital and try to sell me big data they do me a disservice. Big data involved big staffing needs and data scientist with skills beyond the reach of most community settings. Trying to sell me a predictive tool by telling me it will open up new opportunities has no value to me. Trying to sell me a tool and not define the massive resources needed to manage predictive data is just wrong.Don't get me wrong. I am glad there are organizations exploring the power of big data in healthcare and I am sure it will empower providers. I'm just not sure when. I know big data in healthcare will live in genomics, and synaptic pathway studies, and will eventually provide predictive indicators that will allow a caregiver to provide better care. I wish I could contribute to this pursuit in a positive and meaningful way, but today, big data challenges the capacity of the community hospital and health system. Our future depends upon our ability to be agile and act on results. Big data is not there yet. It needs to bake a little longer because the hard part, the thing that no one talks about is this. The true meaning of data is that we master its value. HT
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