Big Data — the ability to collect, process, and interpret massive amounts of information — has reached health care.
The proliferation of electronic medical records and mobile devices, enhanced computing platforms and infrastructure, new data sharing and mining tools, and other recent technological advances have dramatically increased the ability of health care providers, payors, and their affiliates to generate, aggregate, store, and analyze health information. Government agencies, health information exchanges, mobile device companies, online applications and platforms, social media, and collaborating hospitals, insurers, and physicians are accumulating vast amounts of health information.
This paper will provide an overview of the U.S. federal and state considerations applicable to any business initiative that relies on Big Data, and provide some practical advice for those seeking to monetize Big Data in health care.