How many patients were admitted to the hospital last July? How many returned within 30 days? How many acquired an infection or suffered from a patient safety mistake?

Creating and sustaining value for an organisation

In its most basic form, healthcare data only tells you what has already happened. How many patients were admitted to the hospital last July? How many returned within 30 days? How many acquired an infection or suffered from a patient safety mistake?
Descriptive analytics is the ability to quantify events and report on them in a human-readable way. Its the first step in turning big data into actionable insights, and there is a lot to be learned from this level of analytics.
Providers who engage in descriptive analytics have ability to generate reports that illuminate events that have already occurred, resources that have been consumed, or patients who have a new diagnosis on their charts.