Chris Belmont Responds to How Big Data Is Improving Adherence and Reducing Admissions

Chris Belmont, vice president and chief information officer, MD Anderson Cancer Center, says that health systems like Ochsner are using data to validate what they already know about certain patient cases.

“For example, we’re monitoring patients in their home, so we’re providing them with devices so that we can stay connected with them after they leave. We know things that occur in the first 7 days, or actually first 14 days, are one of the big the reasons for readmissions,” says Mr Belmont. “The typical approach was to have someone—say from Home Health or someone call them and monitor them—but now we have devices that are collecting data more frequently.”

Mr Belmont suggests that instead of having someone manually go out to take patient information every few days, health systems can electronically “visit” patients as often as desired. For those patients managing chronic conditions such as high blood pressure, or health issues like obesity, electronic health monitoring can be more convenient.