How Big Data is Transforming Healthcare

SOFTEL are at the forefront of providing solutions and services supporting Big Data Solutions within the Healthcare sector. From development, through design and deployment for migrations and transformation of platforms and solutions to Cloud Data Services, we deliver custom programs using industry processes and unique methods for maintaining and managing complex solutions.

By the time we reach 2025, experts say we’ll be creating around 175 zettabytes of data worldwide. We’re generating valuable information through our smartphones, digital devices, and conversations with other people every day. When companies have the opportunity to collect that information, the result is often innovation, insight, and growth. Nowhere is the impact of data more significant than in healthcare.

It’s information in the health space that shows us how viruses and diseases evolve. With data, we can track trends in populations, examine the individual recovery path of each patient, and potentially come up with cures to significant problems.

Defining Big Data in Healthcare

Thousands of pharmaceutical labs, hospitals, private practices, and clinics are working non-stop to improve the lives of entire communities. This ongoing work results in massive amounts of data, ranging from health records to patient studies and reports from medical devices. The challenge is understanding how to leverage this volume of data correctly. Information is only valuable when it’s accurately collected and translated into actionable insights. Cloud-based solutions provide valuable infrastructure for big data, thanks to their flexibility and scalability. When various data sources are connected in the same cloud space, it’s easier to make informed decisions about care initiatives.

How Big Data is Changing Healthcare

Every major transformation in the healthcare industry starts with data. The collection of information allows professionals to make more informed medical and financial decisions, which lead to new treatments, medications, and breakthroughs. Big data analytics will be the key to better patient service and healthier communities overall. At SOFTEL, we work with complex data structures every day through customer experience contact centers, Microsoft Azure cloud solutions, digital transformation initiatives and managed services. These are the trends we’re seeing in the way data influences healthcare. Here are just some of the ways data is already making a difference.

Improved Patient Tracking

Custom applications placed on patient devices (such as smartphones) are extremely valuable for remote patient monitoring. The remote patient monitoring environment supplements telehealth, allowing clinicians to collect valuable information about the treatment paths of their patients and their recovery rate. During the 2020 pandemic, patient tracking apps were able to monitor an increase in infections in different parts of the world, showing risk level for various communities in real-time. The right tools can even make it possible for doctors to monitor things like heart rate and temperature in a patient from a distance. This opens the door to personalized remote treatment.

Better Staffing

Managing the massive influx of demand was a significant issue for healthcare contact centres in 2020. In all aspects of the healthcare space, knowing when and where to distribute resources is crucial to ongoing success. By tracking changes in patient demand, peak call times, and other metrics, it’s easier to determine how many doctors, nurses, and agents need to be available at any time. According to a whitepaper by Intel, hospitals are already using data from various sources to maintain hourly insights into how many patients are expected to appear in each hospital. This tracking can also be valuable for reducing crowding risks in pandemic treatment centres.

Improved Diagnoses

Through the compliant use of electronic health records and data analytics, medical professionals can gain a better insight into the health of an entire community. Data mining and analysis with a huge network of patients can identify the cause of common illnesses, and address life-shortening and life-changing illnesses. The ability to understand where ailments come from, and which risk factors cause those problems also means that doctors can diagnose problems faster, even when working remotely. Studies have already begun to show how insights into risk factors for opioid addiction and quick diagnoses can reduce drug problems in communities. Big data even has the potential to cure various long-term ailments.

Better Prevention and Treatments

When we understand what causes various ailments, it’s easier to determine what kind of products might be useful for treatment. Access to massive amounts of advanced risk and disease management insights paves the way for the discovery of new opportunities. Recent studies revealed that the Desipramine antidepressant can assist in tackling various forms of lung cancer. Insights like this wouldn’t be possible without big data. Predictive analytics in healthcare can also assist medical professionals in determining where certain risk factors are higher, so steps can be taken to reduce the likelihood of communities falling victim to various ailments.

Better Security and Reduced Fraud

Studies show that up to 93% of healthcare groups have experienced data breaches.

The threat to healthcare companies is greater than ever following the pandemic, as many malicious individuals have begun trying to leverage the fear of patients in gaining access to information. Personal data is extremely valuable and profitable on the dark markets. The ability to pull various forms of data together in a connected back-end system makes it easier for healthcare companies to protect and preserve data integrity. Better security for medical environments also ensures better privacy for patients.

Learning and Development

For the healthcare industry to continue evolving, young students and medical professionals need access to valuable information. Doctors and surgeons are highly skilled in their areas of expertise, and they earn those skills by learning from the data that’s been gathered on a significant scale. With access to the right data in the healthcare environment today, business leaders can create useful training courses for people who are adapting to new practices, like telemedicine, or the use of VR and AR in medical support. As technology continues to evolve, our access to data will ensure that all healthcare organizations can take full advantage of the innovations available to save lives.

Big Data Saves Lives

The potential of big data in healthcare is limitless. The right information can drive the creation of new therapies and innovations that cure ailments. Experts believe that data is the key to advanced disease and risk management. It also allows healthcare groups to be more efficient in triaging patients, reducing unnecessary ER visits. Data is even making healthcare professionals more efficient in their jobs. AI support for medical imaging means that radiologists will be able to detect problems in scans at a much faster rate, potentially stopping diseases before they have a chance to spread.

The future of medicine starts with data.