Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Patient information everywhere, what to do with it all?

It was about five years ago, presenting on Information Lifecycle Management (ILM) when I first suggested that all the patient information at a large hospital is just one big clinical trial. At the end of the session, one audience member from a large teaching hospital said that he agreed and that is why they did not destroy any patient data. Unfortunately, I do not know of a provider which is taking advantage of this wealth of information today. Now, this is not a big deal since the data is being used for its intended purpose to treat patients. It does seem to be a lost opportunity.

It is particularly problematic given the growth in clinical data. Growth, it is becoming an explosion; digital X-rays, MRIs, retinal scans, DNA sequencing, digitize pathology samples…. It is a good thing Hewlett Packard makes large storage arrays. Did I mention that I work at Hewlett Packard? Our ExDS can scale to almost 1 PB less than $2/GB. I have spoken to some Hospitals who are exceeding ½ PB of storage today.

So what is keeping us from using all this data for the collective good? Simple matter of money in my book. What? How can increase the value of the information? Maybe the answer is DNA sequencing. Once the cost of sequencing gets driven down so that we can all afford the test, there may be an opportunity.

At one of the Hewlett Packard Healthcare Symposiums, I once heard someone suggest that the 21st century is the century of personalized medicine. Personalized medicine in the sense that we a know sequence, a clinician will be able to customize the treatment to a patient with a little help from the Pharmaceutical companies. Boutique drugs, personalized to your sequence. Now, there is where the money is, as well as the savings. Savings? Yea. I heard that less than half prescriptions written are not effective for the patient. If a clinician could avoid these prescriptions, and always had their prescriptions be effective, sure that is a big savings, as well as better patient care.

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