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Note: New research center, Optum Labs, will use claims and clinical data to answer pressing healthcare questions; other industry participants welcome.
7 Big Data Solutions Try To Reshape Healthcare (click image for larger view and for slideshow) Big data in healthcare got another boost with the announcement that Optum and Mayo Clinic will combine forces in a new research center, Optum Labs, based in Cambridge, Mass. The partners will research ways to improve the quality of care and reduce costs by integrating huge amounts of clinical data from Mayo with claims data from Optum, the analytics unit of UnitedHealth Group.
What makes this approach different from that of big data experiments undertaken by other large healthcare organizations is that Optum and Mayo plan to publish their research results to benefit patients everywhere, rather than keeping their findings to themselves. In addition, Optum and Mayo executives said at a press conference, they would welcome collaborations with other like-minded organizations.
Andy Slavitt, executive VP of Optum, said that his company will contribute claims data on 100 million patients going back 20 years. Mayo will make available five million clinical records...