Sepsis data are talking, but should the health care industry be listening?
Big Data has become a big commodity in the health care industry. The government, payers, researchers, providers, and even patients are interested in what data are trying to tell us about the quality of care provided. EHRs have allowed the complicated manipulation of these data, yet there continues to be limitations on the conclusions that can be drawn.
Consider sepsis, one of many diagnoses that researchers and others are interested in from a data perspective. Sepsis is the 10th leading cause of death in the United States, and the majority of cases develop after admission, often as a result of postsurgical complications. Can the data gathered from various sources help shed light on this serious problem or do they merely serve to skew reality?