How Big Data is Transforming Healthcare and Building Trust
“Doctors prescribe medications. We don’t improve health.” This was casually stated by a physician and exemplifies the frustration experienced by doctors who want to do more for their patients, but may not see people until they are already sick or suffering from chronic conditions.
People go to the doctor expecting to be made healthy, but the path to good health is not contained within the walls of a hospital. It is estimated that 80–90 percent of what makes someone well happens outside the doctor’s office.¹ In addition to genetics and clinical care, a person’s health is affected by socioeconomic factors, health behaviors, and the physical environment, collectively known as the Social Determinants of Health (SDoH).
American’s Health Today
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that 90 percent of the nation’s $3.3 trillion in annual health care costs is spent on chronic diseases: cancer, diabetes, heart disease, obesity and arthritis to name a few.²
Many of these diseases are caused by dietary and lifestyle choices that are in our control. For example, we have lousy diets. The Standard American Diet (SAD) has been linked time and time again to indicators of poor health. Not to mention that the nutritional quality of the fruits and veggies we do eat has declined significantly over the past several decades.³ We sit indoors staring at computer screens all day and struggle to fit in the recommended 150 minutes of exercise each week. We are stressed. We often fail to get enough sleep. And some of the chemicals we use in our everyday products are toxic.⁴
Then there are statistics showing that it costs twice as much to treat malnourished patients compared to patients who have access to good food and nutrition, and that missed or delayed appointments caused by unreliable transportation cost the healthcare industry $150 billion each year.⁵
Data Can Provide a Holistic Picture of People’s Health
Because many lifestyle conditions lie outside a provider’s traditional scope and influence, our healthcare system is largely reactive — diagnosing illnesses that have already set in and prescribing medications to treat them. Providers only see a snapshot of their patients’ health. And the problem is further compounded when patients have multiple doctors and specialists over their lifetimes, making it easy for health records to be left scattered across time and space.
But what if next time you visited the doctor, you were able to provide a more complete profile of your health history? Not just your medical history of allergies, surgeries, and medications, but with your permission, a doctor could view a full picture of where you live and work, what you eat, and what stresses and challenges you face.
What if in addition to your own personal medical information, you and your doctor could view the things happening in your neighborhood and your community. Low air quality, lack of access to greenspace, and poor public transportation impeding access to amenities could all be affecting your health. Your doctor could not only identify those issues but also point you to the appropriate resources. In this way, the script of “eat better,” “exercise more,” and “don’t smoke” becomes “go to this farmer’s market,” “check out this running group,” and “here’s a cessation support group you could attend.”
Beyond individual consultations, imagine what patterns and possibilities might emerge if physicians and researchers could look across anonymized data from people throughout the country and around the world.
Data scientists at RS21 are bringing together disparate data, analyzing it and providing actionable insights to help achieve these outcomes. We’re pairing claims data with socioeconomics, nutrition and other information to help insurance companies learn how to structure plans that will better serve their members and reduce healthcare costs for individuals. And by using big picture data to identify where services exist and where geographic gaps occur, we’re helping hospitals determine where to locate clinics and what services to provide, for today and in the future, making healthcare more accessible and convenient.
Armed with better information and more complete stories, doctors and patients, healthcare providers and insurance companies, can discuss more meaningful treatments and actions to support better health. This transparency also facilitates better patient-doctor relationships and more awareness of how our systems can better serve us.
Moving Toward Improved Health Outcomes
We live in an era of unprecedented technological advancement. Each day we generate 2.5 quintillion bytes of data.⁶ We must leverage this technology and our data to provide physicians and patients with a more complete picture of the health and well-being of an individual, a community and the nation.
As of today, physicians cannot easily look at the tapestry of factors that contribute to an individual’s health story. But through data science, we can creatively source and integrate data from a variety of places — everything from the public census to air and water quality reports to information from wearable devices and medical records — and see correlations between environmental, social and lifestyle factors and health. Through data that provides actionable insights, we can empower doctors to better help people be stewards of their own health.
Our system is fragmented. While more effective partnerships between providers, insurers, social services and other resources are beginning to create a more holistic approach to healthcare, our current healthcare model is still largely focused on reactive medicine rather than proactive public health.
We can change that.
RS21 specializes in translating and integrating disparate data into intuitive user interfaces. How will you do good with your data?
Citations
[1] Magnan, Sanne. “Social Determinants of Health 101 for Health Care: Five Plus Five.” National Academy of Medicine, October 9, 2017. https://nam.edu/social-determinants-of-health-101-for-health-care-five-plus-five.
[2] “Health and Economic Costs of Chronic Disease | CDC.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Accessed September 12, 2019. https://www.cdc.gov/chronicdisease/about/costs/index.htm.
[3] “Dirt Poor: Have Fruits and Vegetables Become Less Nutritious?” Scientific American, April 27, 2011. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/soil-depletion-and-nutrition-loss.
[4] Santoro, Elizabeth. “Harmful Toxins in Cosmetics: What to Avoid.” Healthline, February 8, 2017. https://www.healthline.com/health/carcinogenic-ingredients-your-personal-care-products.
[5] LaPointe, Jacqueline. “How Addressing Social Determinants of Health Cuts Healthcare Costs.” RevCycleIntelligence9. https://revcycleintelligence.com/news/how-addressing-social-determinants-of-health-cuts-healthcare-costs.
[6] Marr, Bernard. “How Much Data Do We Create Every Day? The Mind-Blowing Stats Everyone Should Read.” Forbes. Forbes Magazine, May 21, 2018. https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2018/05/21/how-much-data-do-we-create-every-day-the-mind-blowing-stats-everyone-should-read/#33ca174a60ba.
