The Difference Between Big Data and Smart Data in Healthcare

Big data isn’t necessarily smart data. How can healthcare organizations develop the tools and competencies they need to make actionable decisions?

“Raw data alone cannot lead to systematic improvement,” said the National Quality Forum in a white paper.  “It has to be turned into meaningful information.  Institutional leadership and culture have to support improvement efforts, and clinicians and healthcare staff need the skills to analyze and apply data.”

The NQF suggests that providers start to cultivate smarter data by defining their goals and use cases before investing in technologies, assessing their available information and its integrity, identifying systemic challenges that may present roadblocks, leveraging existing resources to build analytics competencies, and taking into consideration the needs, preferences, and frustrations of end-users when designing interfaces.

Source: Health IT Analytics