An amazing thing is happening in the healthcare industry. It’s experiencing an explosion of information, which is bringing about opportunity in many ways.

By 2020, it is estimated that almost half of American adults will have some form of chronic disease. It is also estimated that up to half of all healthcare related encounters will take place virtually.

We’re on a very fast learning curve for both, developing and using technology in new ways. Both patients and the health care systems are in the process of generating millions of data entry points on every device imaginable. Yet technology dies almost as quickly as it is produced, meaning we’re in a constant uphill battle of regenerating and replacing.

Cognitive computing is the next evolution of technology that allows systems to learn and grow as they move forward. It generates insight and advice from existing data that up until this point has widely been ignored. It captures a full range of data from a person’s experiences, organizes it and uses it to maintain and improve health for optimal living.

That means bringing together the right technology, the right data, the right delivery systems, the right analysis, and the right programs to make sure the entire process is managed correctly.

Is your organization ready for cognitive computing?

Is your organization doing everything it can with the data it has?
Right now technology is being created and implemented at warp speed. The volume of clinical, personal and research data available continues to increase at a breathtaking pace. Yet there are many things you can be doing today to allow patients to take more control. Are you using apps and programs? Do you communicate through various means of technology? The more you understand now, the easier it is to integrate in the future.

Do you know the best places to allocate your resources to eliminate waste?
Knowing where you could do better is different than having the ability to accomplish it. Getting each patient just the right care requires a careful balance between prior knowledge base and the hundreds of interactive data points that determine the right path today and in the future. With this in place, it's the perfect use for cognitive computing. And for learning things you may not know are possible – yet.

How adaptable are you at managing care?
There’s the approach that everything has its place, its checklist, its best way of doing things. Then there’s the approach that things change all the time. With millions of resources, hundreds of opinions, and many approaches to a single problem, the more open you are to accepting change, the more you’ll be ready for cognitive computing. Cognitive computing works best when learning what factors were used to reach decisions, and how they can be interpreted to help make smarter recommendations in the future.

Cognitive computing isn’t an all or nothing approach. The important aspect is in realizing there might be a better way.

Is your organization ready for cognitive computing?