Big Data Analytics in Healthcare: Benefits and Strategic Approaches

This essay examines the dynamic potential of Big Data Analytics within the healthcare industry, drawing insights from the article "Big data analytics: Understanding its capabilities and potential benefits for healthcare organizations" by Wang, Kung, and Byrd (2015). It explores the architecture of Big Data, including data governance, data management, and data privacy, highlighting its capacity to improve data-driven decision-making and evidence-based practices. The essay also discusses the strategies for implementing Big Data Analytics in healthcare, such as effective data governance, information sharing, training personnel, cloud computing, and business development from data analysis. The conclusion emphasizes the potential of Big Data Analytics to improve healthcare operations, along with the roles healthcare organizations must play to adopt this technology.

Running head: BIG DATA ANALYTICS FOR HEALTHCARE ORGANISATION
Big Data Analytics for Healthcare Organisation
Name of the Student
Name of the University
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Introduction
In healthcare industry the emerging technologies are not properly being grasped to
increase the potential benefit. “Big data analytics: Understanding its capabilities and potential
benefits for healthcare organizations” authored by YichuanWang, LeeAnn Kung and Terry
Anthony Byrd in an article published in 2015 that examined the historical development,
architectural design and functionalities of the components in Big Data Analytics. The study
also recommended five strategies for the healthcare industry to adopt Big Data Analytics to
increase their capabilities in data-driven operations (Wang, Kung and Byrd 2015).
The focus of this Essay is to understand the dynamic potentialities of using Big Data
Analytics in healthcare industry highlighted by the chosen literature. This essay will also
present the implications highlighted by other researcher to critically explore the potential
benefits of using Big Data in Healthcare service. However, as per the chosen article and other
literatures Big Data Analytics can allow the healthcare service provides huge number of
opportunities to take more data-driven and evidence based decision while executing a more
controlled and efficient social service.
Big Data Analytics
The term Big Data refers to the huge volumes of data that cannot be stored, processed
and fetch properly in conventional way of database application usage. In order to manage this
huge amount of data a complex data analysis algorithm is used and this process is known as
Big Data Analytics (Wang, Kung and Byrd 2015). The Big Data technology has passed its
evolutionary stage between 2001 and 2008. Several other software application developments
such as Extendable Markup Language (XML), Database Management System (DBMS), Web
development ad Hadoop enhanced the complexities of the core big data analytics model with
their diverse data set (Wang, Kung and Byrd 2015). The purpose of these advancements is to

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increase the opportunity of the end users to store, fetch and process an indescribably huge
amount of data in a real-time platform. The process of Big Data Analytics is framed by the
Big Data Architecture that holds five major layers of data handling namely data, data
aggregation, analytics, information exploration, and data governance. As supported by Wang,
Kung and Byrd (2015), the cloud based big data operation also enhanced the opportunity
engage third party based distributive operational handling through cost effective storage
system, which is known as “big data in the cloud”. In a nutshell the Big Data Analytics
system is able to deliver the user a appropriate set of data through analysing a huge volume of
different data types, that can enable the user to take more effective decision and perform
more data-driven operations (Wang, Kung and Byrd 2015).
Utilization of Big Data in healthcare organisations
Healthcare industry needs tons of dataset comes from different data source such as
patient details, medical resource details, treatment plans, human resource details, regulatory
compliance and many others. According to Wang, Kung and Byrd (2015), in 2011 healthcare
industry around the world stored healthcare data of 150exabytes that is 15x109GB, through
electronic health record system. It clearly indicates that utilising this huge number of data for
data driven statistical analysis to predict a specific outcome of treatment plan or health
condition will be highly beneficial. As stated by Wang, Kung and Byrd (2015), the huge
amount of organisational data stored from the healthcare industry worldwide is highly
utilisable for economical analysis of healthcare interventions. Big Data Analytics can be also
utilised as a major attribute of Evidence Based Practice in healthcare environment.
As defined by the chosen article, the Big Data architecture of a healthcare system
should include four major components namely Data governance, Data management and Data
lyfe-cycle and Data privacy-security (Wang, Kung and Byrd 2015). Data governance will be
used to operating different data layers in healthcare environment that includes collecting data

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from healthcare service users, global network and organisation’s data storage. These data
then will be stored in a systematic format that will be highly efficient for data fetching
operation. After that the analysis has been done through AI aided data pattern findings and
adoptive learning. The purpose of database management will be to increase data accuracy
while reducing database anomaly and data-loss through rechecking the database from patent
details, treatment plans and other resources (Wang, Kung and Byrd 2015). Data cycle
management will control the data flow and the disposal of insignificant garbage data-set.
Through Data security management the healthcare organisations can control the accessibility
and can maintain the privacy of the data complying with the data privacy and protection act
and health data accessibility related regulation (Wang, Kung and Byrd 2015).
Strategies to adapt Big Data Analytics
Therefore, from the chosen research article and other supportive literatures it can said
that Big Data Analytics is one on that technological advancement from which the healthcare
industry can improve their operations while enhancing their benefits. However, healthcare
industry has to identify some strategic and business value of Big Data Analytics. In the
chosen article the major strategies to adapt Big Data driven healthcare service are
Implementing effective data governance to implement a enterprise wide error free data
handling framework, Developing information sharing culture to ensure the accessibility to the
dynamic data flow, Training key personnel to use this technology for enhancing the strength
of human resource for advancement, incorporating cloud computing in organisation’s
infrastructure to reduce the data handing burdens and developing business ideas from Big
Data analysis to ensure continuous growth of service quality with profitability (Wang, Kung
and Byrd 2015).

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Conclusion
From the above discussion it can be clearly concluded that Big Data Analytics can
improve the healthcare service operations with more accurate, dynamic and robust data
driven approach while equally enhancing their benefits. Along with the chosen article there
are several other articles in this topic that highlighted the same issues regarding the potential
benefit of utilizing big data analytics in healthcare operations such as economic assessment,
evidence based approach, treatment planning, intervention effectiveness analysis and many
others. Moreover, from secure data governing to training the employees the healthcare
organisations has also major roles to play for adapting this new technology in their
infrastructure.

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References:
Wang, Y., Kung, L. and Byrd, T.A., 2015. Big data analytics: Understanding its capabilities
and potential benefits for healthcare organizations. Technological Forecasting and Social
Change, 126, pp.3-13.