Analytics in Healthcare

This book offers a practical introduction to healthcare analytics that does not require a background in data science or statistics. It presents the basics of data, analytics and tools and includes multiple examples of their applications in the field. The book also identifies practical challenges that fuel the need for analytics in healthcare as well as the solutions to address these problems. In the healthcare field, professionals have access to vast amount of data in the form of staff records, electronic patient record, clinical findings, diagnosis, prescription drug, medical imaging procedure, mobile health, resources available, etc. Managing the data and analyzing it to properly understand it and use it to make well-informed decisions can be a challenge for managers and health care professionals. A new generation of applications, sometimes referred to as end-user analytics or self-serve analytics, are specifically designed for non-technical users such as managers and business professionals. The ability to use these increasingly accessible tools with the abundant data requires a basic understanding of the core concepts of data, analytics, and interpretation of outcomes. This book is a resource for such individuals to demystify and learn the basics of data management and analytics for healthcare, while also looking towards future directions in the field.

Christo El Morr is an Associate Professor of Health Informatics, the Health Informatics Certificate Coordinator, and former Undergraduate Program Director at the School of Health Policy and Management at York University; he is also a Research Scientist at North York General Hospital, Toronto. His research covers Health Informatics and Global eHealth with a focus on Health Virtual Communities and e-Collaboration, particularly in the domain of Mental Health, Chronic Disease Management and Health Promotion and Health Services Research. His work in Global eHealth addresses Human and Disability Rights, Equity, and Gender Based Violence. He has published books, chapters, and articles in these areas including the "first of its kind" Health Informatics book in Canada. In 2016, he received a recognition as York University Research Leader. Dr. El Morr is an Associate Editor of the International Journal of Mental Health (IJMH) and the International Journal of Extreme Automation and Connectivity in Healthcare (IJEACH), and an Editorial Board Member of the International Journal of Big Data Security Intelligence (IJBDSI). He also serves as a Scientific Committee Member in several health informatics conferences. Hossam Ali-Hassan is an Assistant Professor of Business Administration at Glendon College, York University, in Toronto, Canada. He holds a PhD in Management Information Systems from Schulich School of Business, York University. His current research interests include business analytics, experiential learning, data literacy, social media, social capital, job performance, and crowdsourcing. He is currently the Primary Investigator on a SSHRC-funded study of the impact of business analytics on job performance. He has published his findings in journals such as The Journal of Strategic Information Systems, The DATA BASE for Advances in Information Systems, The Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences, The Journal of InformationSystems Education, and The AIS Transactions on Human-Computer Interactions. Prior to his academic career, he worked for many years as a technologist and IT consultant.

Chapter 1. Healthcare and Business Intelligence.- Chapter 2. Analytics: The Building Blocks.- Chapter 3. Descriptive, Predictive and Prescriptive Analytics.- Chapter 4. Healthcare Analytics Applications.- Chapter 5. Data Visualization.- Chapter 6. Future Directions.- Appendix A: Which Analytics to Choose: A Guideline.