Big data + politics = open data: The case of health care data in England

TY - JOUR

T1 - Big data + politics = open data

T2 - The case of health care data in England

AU - Keen, Justin

AU - Calinescu, Radu

AU - Paige, Richard

AU - Rooksby, John

PY - 2013/6/1

Y1 - 2013/6/1

N2 - There is a great deal of enthusiasm about the prospects for Big Data held in health care systems around the world. Health care appears to offer the ideal combination of circumstances for its exploitation, with a need to improve productivity on the one hand and the availability of data that can be used to identify opportunities for improvement on the other. The enthusiasm rests on two assumptions. First, that the data sets held by hospitals and other organizations, and the technological infrastructure needed for their acquisition, storage, and manipulation, are up to the task. Second, that organizations outside health care systems will be able to access detailed datasets. We argue that both assumptions can be challenged. The article uses the example of the National Health Service in England to identify data, technology, and information governance challenges. The public acceptability of third party access to detailed health care datasets is, at best, unclear.

AB - There is a great deal of enthusiasm about the prospects for Big Data held in health care systems around the world. Health care appears to offer the ideal combination of circumstances for its exploitation, with a need to improve productivity on the one hand and the availability of data that can be used to identify opportunities for improvement on the other. The enthusiasm rests on two assumptions. First, that the data sets held by hospitals and other organizations, and the technological infrastructure needed for their acquisition, storage, and manipulation, are up to the task. Second, that organizations outside health care systems will be able to access detailed datasets. We argue that both assumptions can be challenged. The article uses the example of the National Health Service in England to identify data, technology, and information governance challenges. The public acceptability of third party access to detailed health care datasets is, at best, unclear.

KW - Big Data

KW - health care

KW - information technologies

KW - Open Data

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84880756964&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1002/1944-2866.POI330

DO - 10.1002/1944-2866.POI330

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:84880756964

SN - 1944-2866

VL - 5

SP - 228

EP - 243

JO - Policy and Internet

JF - Policy and Internet

IS - 2

ER -