Big Data and Reality Mining in Healthcare: Promise and Potential

Nowadays individuals are creating a huge amount of data; with a cell phone in every pocket, a laptop in every bag and wearable sensors everywhere, the fruits of the information are easy to see but less noticeable is the information itself. This data could be particularly useful in making people’s lives healthier and easier, by contributing not only to understand new diseases and therapies but also to predict outcomes at earlier stages and make real-time decisions. In this paper, we explain the potential benefits of big data to healthcare and explore how it improves treatment and empowers patients, providers and researchers. We also describe the capabilities of reality mining in terms of individual health, social network mapping, behavior patterns and treatment monitoring. We illustrate the benefits of reality mining analytics that lead to promote patients’ health, enhance medicine, reduce cost and improve healthcare value and quality. Furthermore, we highlight some challenges that big data analytics faces in healthcare.