Big data software development in healthcare: advantages, disadvantages and opportunities

August 29, 2024
TABLE OF CONTENT

Big data analytics are the top-notch of every industry today. The healthcare market is applying big data apps significantly faster than other industries. Big data analytics for the healthcare market bring numerous merits for physicians and patients. Big data software development services for the healthcare industry have vast and visible potential, making medical help better planned, preventative, personalized, and affordable. Innovative technologies with data analytics allow healthcare workers to forecast and avert infection outbreaks, decrease death rates, cut personal expenses, and improve patient outcomes.

To describe the most significant characteristics of big data apps for healthcare briefly is not easy. For example, you can take four nouns beginning with “S”:

  • Size — to create value-based and personalized healthcare, you need customized software operating huge quantities of data.
  • Speed — customized software continuously processes collected data.
  • Sources — customized software performs predictive analytics and handles data from numerous sources in varied formats.
  • Staidness — the customized ML-based software needs well-organized and standardized data input to minimize the danger of data deception.

Big data applications have completely changed the healthcare industry landscape, including electronic health records (EHR), telemedicine, medical imaging, surgery robots, etc. New digital software is implementing big data technologies and operating massive data input to open new horizons for the healthcare market. Predictive analytics technologies can optimize cost, lower time spent on paperwork, and initiate the creation of new big data products.

Big Data applications for healthcare: most important benefits

The increase in life expectancy in the world’s population is a severe issue for today’s healthcare industry. People live longer, which requires more expensive medical care. Many countries can not afford their expensive healthcare systems anymore. The medical industry today uses a lot of data that has to be operated by doctors. To analyze data is time-consuming and costly.

Big data healthcare applications work with predictive analytics to create successful medical care, making it more affordable and oriented toward personal needs. Sensitive personal data for newly developed big data software in healthcare is taken from multiple sources. For example, EHR, search engines, wearables, etc. Customized big data software for healthcare working with predictive analytics opens numerous opportunities:

  • patients are better informed about their health, diagnostics, and cure
  • physicians offer a more effectual, preventative, and individualized care plan diagnosis that can be more precise
  • diseases can be detected earlier
  • hospitals can optimize personnel staffing according to the prognosed admission rate
  • healthcare facilities can decrease unnecessary outlays and boost safety

Related: How does big data help to solve problems in healthcare?

Let us look at some examples of the most significant benefits of customized software for big data in medicine.

More precise diagnostics and better-organized healthcare

Customized big data software for healthcare helps physicians make more exact diagnoses and act faster and more effectively. The old-fashioned way of diagnosing patients is very time-consuming because of ER visits, examinations, labs, and other procedures. Doctors ask patients about their symptoms and compare them with those described in the medical literature.

Often, doctors need a consultation with colleagues about more complicated cases. Big data analytics help save time processing big amounts of patient data, comparing them, and suggesting possible diagnoses. Some diagnoses may even no longer be sufficient nowadays. Big data algorithms can help detect and diagnose multiple variants of asthma with various methods of treatment. Working with data mining techniques helps physicians develop a precise cure strategy for each patient’s unique case. Doctors who work with big data apps can notice inconspicuous symptoms at the beginning of the illness and take action immediately to prevent worsening.

Predictive medicine

Existing big data algorithms are created to help physicians with more accurate clinical diagnostics. Those tools can process substantial data quantities by working with prognostic analytics and predictive modelling techniques. Big data analytics tools help to identify diseases at the very beginning and suggest proper healing methods. Using big data algorithms, doctors can quickly detect patients who may develop a specific condition, prevent illnesses from becoming chronic, and forecast epidemics. For example, predictive modelling algorithms can be helpful in diagnosing diabetes or forecasting the spread of viruses to avert epidemics.

Using genomic data helps to develop a more exact vision of the further progress of diseases like cancer. Today, a complete human genome sequence costs a couple of thousand dollars. A decade ago, the price reached about $100 million. Subsequently, genomic data are constantly amassed, increasing our ability to benefit from such data.

Effective management of population health with Big Data software development

Big data apps can be beneficial in many cases when used to manage the healthcare industry. The specific goal of applying big data apps in population health management is transforming various medical institutions into high-performance workplaces, which is too difficult to achieve with traditional tools. In addition, big data tools offer other essential benefits like predictive modelling and data analytics services, which are able to forecast the expansion of infections and their consequences.

Prognostic analytics can help healthcare institutions substantially cut costs and boost patient outcomes by avoiding unnecessary tests and procedures or using algorithms to forecast the expected quantity of patients and prepare them with appropriate healthcare workers. In addition, some systems collect data from revenue cycle software and billing systems to aggregate cost-related data and define other areas for demotion.

Challenges of applying Big Data applications in the healthcare industry

Big Data applications challenges in healthcare:

  • new technologies
  • massive data input
  • innovations in healthcare
  • cost optimization
  • paperwork optimization
  • better planned help

Customized software using big data has significantly modified the healthcare industry by helping avoid illnesses, predict medical outcomes, downsize medical errors, and boost healthcare in all aspects, from quality to affordability. However, some structural challenges hinder healthcare facilities from applying big data applications to everyday operations. First, specific technical skills are required but not always available in healthcare facilities to manage a big data environment.

Therefore, it is a severe challenge to apply big data in the healthcare industry. Another big challenge in the healthcare industry is data safety, as big data storage is attractive to hackers. This is why most healthcare organizations protect sensitive personal data. All healthcare apps must meet the requirements for data security and be HIPAA compliant. Let’s think about several other common drawbacks of the mass implementation of big data apps developed for healthcare workers:

Quality of input data: integration, standardization, processing, and sharing

Customized big data software in healthcare is capable of operating significant data quantities but has specific requirements. Input data must be standardized, unified, and free of duplicates or mistakes. Data are often taken from diverse sources and are differently formatted. It makes operating this sensitive personal medical data challenging. For successful integration and processing, data must be well organized and standardized. Working with data that is not qualitative might cause diagnostic errors or the wrong cure.

The correctness of data input is challenging but mandatory; it belongs to the top priority area used for developing data management healthcare apps. Big data algorithms must work with adequately organized data to avoid errors in the field and achieve the most impressive patient outcome. While gathering and sharing sensitive patient data, providers have to be in touch with each other and share only qualitative and properly organized information. Only standardized, unified, and tested data has to be implemented into the system. All prepared data has to be automatically checked and tested regularly.

Robust data privacy protection is another challenging but important issue when sharing sensitive healthcare data with various healthcare providers. Big data software created for medical care must be HIPAA compliant.

Visualize sensitive data for Big Data software development

When speaking of intelligent technologies and medicine, the most essential are software for constant monitoring of patient information, tracking data from wearables, organizing amassed data, and data visualization on dashboards and in reports. Visualization is challenging but crucial for creating images, diagrams, or animations to communicate medical messages and enhance understanding. In addition, specific personalized healthcare applications, management, and customized big data analytics services must be developed to visualize sensitive information and properly resolve safety and scalability problems.

Practical examples of implementing Big Data software for the healthcare industry

Electronic healthcare records

Implementing Electronic Health Records (EHRs) is the first and solemn step for constant data tracking and big data analytics services to boost healthcare quality.

Data contained in the EHR belongs to the essential sources for creating customized data tracking apps. Many healthcare facilities have already applied EHRs to let healthcare workers view the complete healthcare history of each person: demographics, chronic illnesses, performed lab and other tests, prescribed medications, and specific information about lifestyle – this and other data is saved in the EHR. Healthcare workers from different facilities can share and edit data in the EHR records to add data and suggestions to achieve better cure results.

Medical data exchange, data sharing, and assistance in the decision-making process are now possible without additional doctor appointments, labs, tests, and other procedures. Big data analytics tools allow for avoiding data replication and immense paperwork. All systems used for sensitive personal data exchange must be HIPAA compliant and safe from data violation. Sharing confidential data in EHRs can significantly enhance healthcare and result in better-tailored healing. Healthcare workers can now see side-by-side data of various people having similar conditions, analyzing generic components and personal habits such as smoking, alcohol consumption, quality of sleep, and others.

Related: Big data implementation: roadmap and best practices to follow

EHRs often offer opportunities to activate alerts and reminders for patients to follow doctor’s instructions correctly, take prescribed medications, and not miss ER Visits or lab tests. Implementing EHRs can significantly improve existing treatment protocols, helping prevent epidemics, and decrease mortality rates from heart attacks and other chronic diseases. EHRs help optimize expenses by avoiding needless ER Visits, tests, or other procedures.

The strategy of preventing diseases is more effective than healing. Big data-based healthcare apps help providers, doctors, and care receivers to focus on preventive medicine. Doctors care about the benefit of patients staying healthy and provide them with advice about a more nutritious lifestyle after analyzing the data contained in EHR. Big data applications in healthcare help with prognostic analytics services, assisting in diagnosing illnesses in the initial phases. To predict further illness and receive timely warning signals, doctors must get acquainted with intelligent technological inventions, which can greatly help heal people.

Alerts in Big Data analytics tools

Many big data healthcare applications have alerting functionality implemented, which is an advantageous invention. However, alarm signals generated by big data healthcare apps that constantly monitor personal medical data may endanger a patient’s life. In particular, reminding a diabetic person to take prescribed medication or eat on time may help somebody not fall into a diabetic coma. In such situations, people need a wearable device to monitor their sugar levels constantly. In addition, such wearable devices are handy for people who tend to have dangerously high blood pressure. If the blood pressure data is constantly monitored, the doctor can be alerted and may help the patient remotely.

Alerts in big data applications help not only in urgent situations as described above but can also remind patients to follow precisely the doctor’s instructions, helping to avoid needless doctor appointments, labs, and other procedures. In addition, alerts help to correct prescriptive decisions. For example, wearable devices that constantly monitor asthma patients are a helping hand for doctors by prescribing proper healing and preventing the condition from worsening.

Sensitive individual health data may be gathered continuously by wearables and saved in external storage. Thus, physicians can compare data analytics from people with similar conditions and correct the planned treatment accordingly. If better-targeted healthcare service is a goal, data analytics tools help a lot. Customized big data healthcare applications working with predictive analytics also offer alert functionality.

Applications that work with prognostic modelling data can help in avoiding epidemics. For example, wireless devices that constantly monitor and gather data on proper handwashing in certain institutions like hospitals or other healthcare facilities can predict infection spreading.  

Risk management in Big Data analytics tools

Customized big data healthcare software shows promising results in predictive analytics tools, helping healthcare facilities significantly boost medical care. Prognostic ML-algorithms can help doctors develop precise and patient-targeted strategies for medical help. Especially patients with complicated diagnoses and chronic conditions can use new big data technologies in healthcare. Conditions at the early stages can be detected more easily with the assistance of big data apps. In addition, big data enables more effective healing prescriptions for care receivers; insurance companies can better calculate possible risks, and hospitals can cut unnecessary costs.

Big data healthcare algorithms use predictive analytics to assist healthcare facilities in better planning personnel staffing according to the expected admission rates. For example, knowing the approximate number of expected daily patients, managers can prepare by arranging the proper care and downsizing expenses.

Customized big data software created for healthcare may track data of people at high risk of unexpected hospitalization, helping to avoid such hospitalizations. Alerts are beneficial in those cases.

Analyzing various patient data like prescribed pharmaceuticals, individual symptoms, lab results, the number of doctor appointments, and other data makes it possible to focus on appropriate preventative care and reduce unnecessary hospital admissions. Big data in healthcare can assist in risk calculation and cost downsizing, for example, in the case of home treatments. Big data analytics allow healthcare facilities to manage risks effectively, optimize the allocation of resources, and offer exceptional care for the most needy patients. Institutions which apply big data tools in healthcare boost patient outcomes and are better financially well-organized.

Medical imaging in Big Data analytics tools

Healthcare workers must examine and store a large number of medical images needed for a proper diagnosis. Manually doing it in the traditional way takes a lot of time and is expensive. For example, radiologists must analyze each CT, MRI, or PET image separately, and healthcare facilities must store it. Big data-based healthcare analytics rationalize the analysis of medical images.

Big data algorithms for healthcare processes compare large quantities of visual data to convert them into digits and detect certain patterns in pixels, helping physicians create history catalogues of images. Computer vision and data science techniques are very helpful for picture analytics and improving diagnostic results. Big data enables doctors to analyze and compare images, identifying the smallest changes and suggesting possible diagnoses.

Telemedicine

The term telemedicine has existed for several decades. Telehealth technologies work for distant medical care. The popularity of big data telehealth apps has increased rapidly recently, not least because of the pandemic. Remote medical consultations and wearable devices give doctors and other healthcare workers the opportunity for remote patient monitoring, electronic prescribing, additional schooling for doctors, and other services that are top-notch for new big-data healthcare services.

Remote surgery technologies enable supervising surgeries performed by robots. As a result, doctors don’t even need to be physically present in the clinic during the surgery.

Customized big data software for telemedicine allows more individual healing strategies and is focused on preventive medicine. For example, taking action on time allows for fewer hospitalizations or readmissions in some specific chronic cases.

Benefits of Big Data in healthcare

  • Patients no longer have to wait in lines for ER Visits
  • Doctors have fewer needless examinations and desk work
  • Doctors can monitor and consult patients remotely
  • Chronic patients with complex medical diagnoses can be saved from unexpected hospitalizations and readmissions
  • Healthcare workers receive alerts about possible deterioration cases or acute medical events and can take action on time
  • Healthcare facilities can cut expenses while boosting the level of healthcare services
  • Medical help becomes more available for all categories of patients

Related: Big data analytics: types and benefits

Conclusion

The big data tools offer a variety of advantages to the healthcare sector, ranging from early disease detection to selecting the optimal treatment plans based on clinical and genomic data. Big data initiatives can potentially alter the healthcare system shortly.

VITech works with various healthcare companies to help them manage their data assets using medical big data analytics. We leverage big data in healthcare software to implement technologies that can help any size healthcare company simplify and enhance efficiency.

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