Whitney Palmer

No Such Thing as Big Data in Health Care

Published on the Dec. 3, 2014, DiagnosticImaging.com website

When it comes to big data, health care doesn’t really have any. And, for radiology, that’s a good thing. Small and medium data will work just fine – especially for testing and designing new reimbursement models, according to speakers at this year’s Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) meeting.

Industry experts at this year’s RSNA say the data hospitals and health care systems already have can help providers identify ways to maximize their influence in the design of any future payment models.

“We’re currently in the lowest life form of payment policy. We get paid for events – it’s a transactional delivery system,” said Richard Duszak, MD, vice chair for health policy and practice, department of radiology and imaging sciences, Emory University School of Medicine. “Increasingly, we’re moving to models where we’ll be paid by encounters and engagements.”

The question, he said, is how those models will be designed to ensure radiologists receive appropriate reimbursement for services rendered in a correctly incentivized way. To date, there’s no clear-cut answer, but there are steps radiologists can take – armed with small-to-medium data – to ensure their seat at the decision table.

To read the article in its entirey at its original location: http://www.diagnosticimaging.com/rsna-2014/no-such-thing-big-data-health-care

January 1, 2015 Posted by wjpalmer | Healthcare | analyzing radiology claims data, big data, creating radiology reimbursement benchmarks, Emory University School of Medicine radiology, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, natural language processing and radiology, Neiman Health Policy Institute, Radiological Society of North America, radiology and big data, radiology services involved in inpatient care, review radiology reports to reduce errors, Richard Duszak MD, using big data to ensure appropriate radiology reimbursement, Woojin Kim MD | Leave a comment