In the health sciences, information technology and data analytics can have a dramatic impact on well-being.

An example of this is the use of innovation to address some of the world's most pressing health challenges. One of these challenges is sepsis. It's a severe bloodstream infection that, if left untreated, can lead to organ failure or death.

And it's a major cause of increased hospital stays for patients fighting other illnesses and costs to our healthcare system.

Jordan Valley Medical Center is a leading healthcare network in Utah. They had been using an industry-standard approach to dealing with this condition but still cases were increasing.

Jordan Valley partnered with a unit of IBM Watson Health to use analytics to dramatically decrease the costs and adverse consequence of this serious infection. They developed a team-based and data-driven approach. They looked carefully at data on what was working and what was not, readmission rates and severity of disease as well as a host of operational factors. By correlating all these data elements, they were able to develop an entirely new perspective on sepsis and how best to treat it.

Their focus was on early and aggressive intervention.

That required development of new tools to identify symptoms earlier so that they could begin treatment sooner. And the results speak for themselves. Jordan Valley exceeded the benchmarks for performance set by the top quartile of hospitals in the nation and was recognized by a national rating agency with its highest ranking for effectiveness in treating sepsis.

And that has a huge effect on patient care and well-being.

In this case, the answer was in the data – analyzing it to understand the factors impacting patient well-being.

Projects like this have legal implications as well, whether or not they occur in the healthcare delivery setting. So, if you plan to embark on a project in this area, consider contacting our firm at [email protected] to set up an appointment to analyze the legal issues that may arise.