Finding value in big data is an essential part of health reform, and this year at HIMSS there are a few innovative companies bringing new analytical insight to their unique market segments.

Only a few years ago, data as we know it was little more than an incidental side effect of digital technology; a happy accident of informatics. Those days are long gone now, but gone too are the days of expecting data to automatically divulge its treasures.

This week at McCormick Place in Chicago, HIMSS attendees realize that data has little value without a system to process, filter, and interpret it. EHR vendors have been grappling with this fact for years — as has the image viewing and archiving segment — but new offerings for remote patient monitoring, consumer-end health analytics, and business intelligence for hospital metrics, may indicate a new level of maturity in how the industry as a whole processes data.

DOTmed News spent two days walking the floor at HIMSS; speaking with vendors, catching up with colleagues, and attending educational sessions. There was a lot of information to process — which is fitting for an industry so absorbed in data analytics.

Here are three data innovators that stood out:

Intelligent remote patient monitoring

Sentrian is showcasing a new cloud-based system that may bring a new level of insight to remote patient monitoring. According to their chief medical scientist, Dr. Martin Kohn, Sentrian's new platform takes a more diverse range of analytics than other systems on the market and can predict patient deterioration days in advance.

By utilizing machine learning, (Kohn was formerly chief medical scientist for IBM's Watson project) Sentrian can integrate with a variety of biosensors and wearable devices to intelligently target diagnostic problems before they would otherwise be detected. Ultimately, a system like this can cut a hospital visit off at the pass, saving money and possibly lives.

Adding medical credibility to consumer health

While most consumer health analytics exist in a realm entirely outside of the EHR, Mana Health is taking a dive into uncharted waters with their HIPAA compliant ManaCloud system. Through a simple user interface, the system allows physician-authenticated patients to contribute actively to their health record as they go about their day.

Chris Bradley, Mana Health's CEO, told DOTmed News there are currently 1.7 million health records in the Healthcare Access San Antonio health information exchange which their portal can connect with, and another rollout underway in New York. By allowing patients electronic access to their data, the ManaCloud system also meets Meaningful Use Stage 3 requirements recently set forth by CMS.

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