How Data Science Is Transforming Health Care

Book excerpt: In the early days of the 20th century, department store magnate JohnWanamaker famously said, "I know that half of my advertising doesn'twork. The problem is that I don't know which half." That remainedbasically true until Google transformed advertising with AdSense basedon new uses of data and analysis. The same might be said about healthcare and it's poised to go through a similar transformation as newtools, techniques, and data sources come on line. Soon we'll makepolicy and resource decisions based on much better understanding ofwhat leads to the best outcomes, and we'll make medical decisionsbased on a patient's specific biology. The result will be betterhealth at less cost. This paper explores how data analysis will help us structure thebusiness of health care more effectively around outcomes, and how itwill transform the practice of medicine by personalizing for eachspecific patient.