Dive Brief:
- Using a massive data set of vital signs of mothers and babies who developed sepsis, doctors in Kaiser Permanente's neonatal intensive care units have created an online calculator that determines the risk of sepsis in preterm and newborn babies.
- Kaiser, which uses data that has been collected since 1993, gathers data on every infant born in the northern California region, as well as data on babies admitted to NICUs.
- This data has generated statewide improvements in California for infants and newborns, including reducing the time an infant must spend in the NICU.
Dive Insight:
For the last few years, providers have been struggling to tame the massive data stores they have available to them. Kaiser seems to be one of a growing number that have found ways to make concrete improvements in outcomes by analyzing this data. Expect to see hospitals nationwide benefit similarly as they get their arms around the "big data" they now have in their possession.