IBM Executive Report on Optimizing Healthcare Outcomes Using Analytics

current ecosystem of how data flows across stakeholders

Wow, IBM just posted a great white paper that does a great job of articulating the current state of analytics and spells out some recommendations at the end.  Click here for white paper.

Here are the key takeaways for those who don't feel like reading:

• Optimize analytics within  your company
• Encourage disrupted collaboration
• Accept no objections.

Read the paper for more information.  But as the paper concludes, "In the information age, data rules".

IBM's Watson Wants to Fix America's Doctor Shortage

"The supercomputer's greatest opponent may be the American healthcare system"

Watson Path's concept map

I thought Watson defeating Jeopardy champs, Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter was impressive:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seNkjYyG3gI

But check out WatsonPaths and how it can help physicians use data to make decisions. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07XPEqkHJ6U

Mind Blown.

I was just chatting with my coworker about Watson and how IBM should set their sights higher than just competing with Siri (Apple) and maybe taking on Google:  the algorithm IBM has created is far above anything Google currently does with search.  

Looks like IBM has their sights set even higher.  Read more about Watson Path and how it can potentially help fix America's doctor shortage here.

The 'Big Data' Revolution in Healthcare

There is a great paper put together by the people at Mckinsey & Company entitled "The 'big data' revolution in healthcare: accelerating value and innovation" (right click link to download entire paper).  This 22 page paper published earlier this year is a great primer on big data (and analytics) place in this sector.

forces demanding insights:  enter "big data"

I recommend reading the entire thing.  But the summary is a good bottom line of the papers analysis and subsequent recommendations:

"Big-data initiatives have the potential to transform health care. Stakeholders that are committed to innovation, willing to build their capabilities, and open to a new view of value will likely be the first to reap the rewards of big data and help patients achieve better outcomes."

Obamacare Online = Big Data Repository?

While everyone has recently been talking about the government shutdown (for good reason), another HUGE thing that just happened was that ObamaCare (Affordable Care Act) went online! https://www.healthcare.gov/

OK, so the process and benefits might be a little confusing. But once you get into the application (might take a while due to the traffic), it asks for alot of data!

ObamaCare is positioning itself to be the biggest healthcare data repository in the US (and perhaps the world)! What is the government planning to do with all this data?

There will be an opportunity for healthcare providers to mine and analyze this data. If healthcare providers can leverage this data like in business, real insights can be drawn and infrastructure can hopefully be improved.