Economic evaluations of big data analytics for clinical decision-making: a scoping review

Much has been invested in big data analytics to improve health and reduce costs. However, it is unknown whether these investments have achieved the desired goals. We performed a scoping review to determine the health and economic impact of big data analytics for clinical decision-making.

We searched Medline, Embase, Web of Science and the National Health Services Economic Evaluations Database for relevant articles. We included peer-reviewed papers that report the health economic impact of analytics that assist clinical decision-making. We extracted the economic methods and estimated impact and also assessed the quality of the methods used. In addition, we estimated how many studies assessed "big data analytics" based on a broad definition of this term.

The search yielded 12 133 papers but only 71 studies fulfilled all eligibility criteria. Only a few papers were full economic evaluations; many were performed during development. Papers frequently reported savings for healthcare payers but only 20% also included costs of analytics. Twenty studies examined "big data analytics" and only 7 reported both cost-savings and better outcomes.

The promised potential of big data is not yet reflected in the literature, partly since only a few full and properly performed economic evaluations have been published. This and the lack of a clear definition of "big data" limit policy makers and healthcare professionals from determining which big data initiatives are worth implementing.