A systematic perspective on the applications of big data analytics in healthcare management

The exponential growth in the data collected in the form of electronic health records, registries, or wearable sensors has bought a big data revolution in the health industry. A large amount of information is required to be extracted from this substantially available data that provides numerous benefits such as improved quality of life, disease diagnosis, treatment and healthcare service delivery system. The big data generated in the healthcare is characterized by large volume, heterogeneity and speed. The other issues associated with the healthcare big data include non-uniform data, large number of variables, and need for real-time data analysis. In this paper, we examine the existing literature in all the databases within the ISI Web of Science with the purpose of reviewing the current research and develop a new agenda. Total 91 papers, classified in five research categories namely, general healthcare, clinical diagnosis and research, service delivery system, disease transmission and prevention, and health insurance were reviewed. Reviewing past work is focused on identifying areas where big data analytics (BDA) is being applied in healthcare management. The outcome of the review is a proposed framework on BDA capability and its impact on healthcare organization performance.