ABSTRACT
The opportunities to improve outcomes from large, complex databases (big data) are just emerging in health care. Finding signals hidden in the vast repositories of data from electronic health records, insurance claims, public and private databases, social media, genomics, and so forth have the potential to predict, prescribe treatment for, and prevent disease conditions. This chapter describes the sources of health care data, factors driving their growth, and benefits of big data science in health care and concludes with a series of exemplars from research studies in this exciting field.
