Politicians in the United States and Europe have been using new advanced analytics to analyze different data sources to have a better understanding of voters’ views on different issues that include the economy, defense, gun control, social programs as well as health policies such as Medicare and Medicaid. This knowledge is very helpful in shaping their policy and to ensure their own political gains.

The disruptions are happening in the field of health too. There has been a big movement toward a utilization of IT to solve different health problems and to inform the decision-making process to solve these problems. For example, in 2015, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) started a discussion to collaborate with Google to develop a system to detect adverse events; results from this collaboration would be useful to inform the FDA on how to develop its policy.

So, the question is not when will IT be used to tackle health problems, it is when IT can, which is now, and how to do it. Why?

First of all, the technology and the data sources are already here; it is a wealth of information that could be mined to get value with tangible actions.

Google developed a model to predict when the peak of the flu season would be and to estimate how many people would be affected. This data informed the government in making the right decision that allowed them to prepare for the season more efficiently and informed the pharmaceutical industry to produce the vaccine accordingly.

There are three components — IT, advanced analytics and the data sources — for this to happen. A different type of data source usually requires a different set of analytic methods requiring a specific type of IT.

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