Searching for Adverse Events: Big Data and Beyond
Barry R. Furrow · bepress Legal Repository · 2018
Annals of Health LawFourth, patient outcomes might be improved through wearable devices and other analytical tools that monitor and track patient data and progress.9Finally, and central to my discussion in this article, the use of data analytics enhances institutional provider power to spot anomalies, such as a doctor's high rate of patients with post-operative infections or hospital readmission.0Analytical tools can also spot adverse drug events ("ADEs"), common problems in a complex health care institution.U Software systems can reduce ADEs by scanning patient records for medications prescribed outside standard treatment.L dVendors, such as Oracle, Sparx, IBM, Allscripts, and Verisk Analytics, market the tools of Big Data with enthusiasm.5 Some of the largest hospitals and health care networks use these tools already, but in general, hospitals and health systems have been slow to adopt them, despite vendor enthusiasm.0Sluggish adoption by hospitals has many explanations.First, computer data systems suffer from lack of interoperability too often, systems of competing vendors usually do not work well together.Second, although the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act ("HIPAA") provides some uniformity in the privacy landscape, confidentiality laws vary across the fifty states.Today, as hospitals consolidate into much larger multi-state systems, software systems must comply and master these inter-state intricacies.0Third, cost presents a significant barrier to easy adoption.Many institutions have developed their own custom datasets, hindering data sharing.0Health care is an expensive industry, and health care institutions are cautious about large investments, particularly considering their other equipment and building costs and the costs of acquiring skilled IT personnel to adopt new data analytic systems in a tight IT labor market.0Data miningthe endpoint of data analytics, once data is scrubbed, organized and sortedpermits an organization to convert, collate and digest PROCEDURES, (2014); see also id 9.