Health Data
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Foundations
Last updated
"The capability of handling big data is becoming an enabler to carry out unprecedented research studies and to implement new models of healthcare delivery." []
The term "big data" has been used since the early 1990s []. Big data are characterized by the "3 Vs": Volume (size), Velocity (speed of generation), and Variety (different types) []. This has expanded to additional Vs (5 Vs, 10 Vs, 14 Vs, etc.) such as: Veracity, Value, Validity, Variability, and Vocabulary.
There are many sources of big data in biomedicine and health care []. These include Electronic Health Records (EHR) [], Health Information Exchanges (HIE) [], All-Payer Claims Databases (APCD) [], biological and biomedical databases [], and public health surveys [].
Health data can be broadly categorized as "structured" (e.g., demographics, diagnoses, procedures, and medications) or "unstructured" (e.g., clinical reports and notes) []. Use of established is critical for sharing and exchange of health data within and across organizations to support and .
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