Syracuse University SURFACE Dissertations - ALL SURFACE May 2014 An Epidemiology of Big Data John Mark Young Syracuse University Follow this and additional works at: https://surface.syr.edu/etd Part of the Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons Recommended Citation Young, John Mark, "An Epidemiology of Big Data" (2014). Dissertations - ALL. 105. https://surface.syr.edu/etd/105 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the SURFACE at SURFACE. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations - ALL by an authorized administrator of SURFACE. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. ABSTRACT Federal legislation designed to transform the U.S. healthcare system and the emergence of mobile technology are among the common drivers that have contributed to a data explosion, with industry analysts and stakeholders proclaiming this decade the big data decade in healthcare (Horowitz, 2012). But a precise definition of big data is hazy (Dumbill, 2013). Instead, the healthcare industry mainly relies on metaphors, buzzwords, and slogans that fail to provide information about big data’s content, value, or purposes for existence (Burns, 2011). Bollier and Firestone (2010) even suggests “big data does not really exist in healthcare” (p. 29). While federal policymakers and other healthcare stakeholders struggle with the adoption of Meaningful Use Standards, International Classification of Diseases-10 (ICD-10), and electronic health record interoperability standards, big data in healthcare remains a widely misunderstood