Technology
For the first time in history , more than 50 percent of the world ’ s population lives in urban areas . By 2050 , nearly 70 percent of the global population , or more than 6 billion people , will live in cities . This urban renaissance offers the opportunity to rethink our urban landscapes to plan and build the social and physical networks and infrastructure needed to create healthier , safer and more sustainable places to live .
Urbanization will also challenge government agencies , healthcare organizations and social services to cost-effectively meet the health needs of a widely diverse citizen population with limited or declining resources . Aging populations and the related rise in chronic conditions will also drive up costs and complexity . With global rates of chronic cardiovascular and lung disease , cancer and diabetes continuing to increase , health systems in industrialized and developing countries alike will be strained .
At the same time , the complexity of data will only continue to grow as health organizations and the patients they serve become more hyper connected across devices and environments . Health organizations of all sizes and types collect and store enormous amounts of sensitive clinical , operational and financial data which is still commonly funneled into disparate technology systems , making it difficult for organizations and health professionals to mine for insight and intelligence . Just consider the explosion of structured and unstructured health data generated every second from sources ranging from patients ’ devices , mobile apps and social networks and hospitals ’ clinical , enterprise and operational systems .
The generic term for these large data sets is “ big data .” But a broader way to look at it is how new tools like Microsoft Power BI is unlocking the strategic value of health data that we weren ’ t able to track or analyze before because , well , it was too big . If the devil is in the details of EMRs , diagnostic images , supply chain , claims , revenue and resource management systems , then so too is the solution if we are just able to identify patterns .
While managing the health and wellness of entire populations is a complex puzzle , technology is how we can capture the promise data holds
32 September 2014