Data Mining Could Contain Health Costs

Staff | CBS St. Louis | February 22, 2012

We live in an era of information overload. Now the government is releasing even more data. One expert says, in the right hands it could be a tool for change in this country’s massive health care system. Imagine you’ve just been released from the hospital. You need appointments for several specialists, meals delivered, and transportation. Now there’s an app for that, so to speak.

“While apps are cool, they’re just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what’s available in the health care system,” says Todd Park, Chief Technology Officer for the US Department of Health and Human Services.

Thanks to reams of data made available by HHS, one private company has created a computer program that allows a nurse to easily access resources and meet patient needs with one phone call. “This patient who probably wasn’t in the mood to flip icons around on her iPad was actually getting help — data powered help through an incredibly effective, time-tested user-interface which is called talking to another human being.”...