Healthcare Technology and Big Data

Healthcare Technology and Big Data Introduction As technology advances, medical devices are able to record increasing amounts of information. These devices are also becoming much more assessable to consumers than in the past. In Adam Tanner’s article â€Å"Health Entrepreneur Debates Going To Data’s Dark Side,† he discusses the company Safe Heart. Safe Heart is developing medical devices for consumer use. These devices are able to measure values like blood oxygen saturation, heart rate, and perfusion index. Being able to collect these massive amounts of data, places these devices in the realm of big data. Although the topic of big data imposes its own issues, the medical nature of the data creates an additional set of important issues. Safe Heart is not the first organization to develop devices that collect â€Å"big† quantities of data. In recent years, many organizations have begun to capture and use large quantities of medical data. Hospitals, credit agencies and researchers have all started to use medical data to the advantage of either the patient or their own corporation. With all the data being captured, there are legal and ethical issues that become apparent. Main Issues The most prominent issue related to big healthcare technology data is a legal one. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), protects health data that is transmitted by a certain groups and organizations [1]. It states that consent must be obtained from the patient to distribute any information to a third party. The organizations included are health plans, health care clearinghouses, and some health care providers [1]. This would mean that non-health organizations transmitting health information would not be subject to HIPAA. The previously mentioned organization Safe Heart, would not be subject to HIPAA because they are not an organization covered by the act. Safe Heart would be able to transmit data in a variety of ways and not be limited by the restrictions of HIPAA. Another act that has the power to govern patient data, but is not optimized for current technologies, is the Privacy Act [1]. The Privacy Act protects data that is distributed by the federal gov ernment. To distribute data, the government must remove personally identifying information from the records [1]. After the information is removed, this allows the government to distribute massive amounts of civilian health data publically. As long as explicitly identifying attributes like name and address have been removed, the Privacy Act does not limit how much, or where the data can be distributed. There are few bounds on what the government can do, making this a pressing legal issue. Big data also imposes several ethical issues on healthcare technology. Even though health agencies may anonymize data in accordance with the Privacy Act, it is still possible to associate the data back to the individual. The Massachusetts Group Insurance Commission released a dataset in the 1990s, and they assured the public that the data had been completely anonymized. A graduate student at the time combined this dataset with voting data and was able to associate medical data back to the correct patient. Shortly after this, it was shown that an American can be identified with only their zip code, birthdate and sex [2]. This imposes a myriad of issues on medical technology companies like Safe Heart. If a released dataset is not properly anonymized, the large amounts of data collected by the devices can be associated back to the patients. This also has powerful ethical implications when considering the results of a study done by the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse. This organization stud ied a collection of mobile health and fitness applications for both iOS and Android operating systems. The study found that many of the applications transmitted data, without user notification, to third parties. The data transmitted included items like latitude, longitude, and zip code data [3]. Since many of the developers were not medical entities, the data sharing is not limited. The medical data can be used for marketing of products and can be sold to third parties for other uses. This is a large invasion of user privacy and creates one more way to link consumers to their already existing medical data that has been â€Å"anonymized.† Major Stakeholders The winners here are largely marketing and advertising agencies. After buying a, or using a publically available, dataset marketers can use the few remaining pieces of identifying information like location, age and gender to target specific consumers. With improved consumer targeting, marketing and advertising agencies can increase their revenue and further their own product line. The consumers are also winners depending on how their data is handled. If the data is handled correctly, the profits from the distribution of the data would allow companies, like SafeHeart, to subsidize the cost of the medical devices [4]. Subsidized devices would allow medical technological companies to reach a broader demographic, providing increased public benefit. The data gathered by the consumer medical devices can also be used to enhance medical research providing additional benefit to the consumers [5]. Finally, the collection of data can benefit consumers because it enables improved tracking of dis eases among an entire population [6]. If diseases can be detected faster, a large portion of the public would benefit. Although consumers can reap a large number of benefits from big data in healthcare, they are losers as well. There will be many consumers who do not want their data to be affiliated with marketing or advertising agencies. To these consumers, this is viewed as an extreme invasion of privacy. In addition to the undesired sharing, these users may be subject to the re-identification process. Even though the shared medical data contains few identifying attributes, the remaining information can be used to associate the original consumer with the appropriate medical record [2]. This too in an invasion of the consumer’s privacy, contrary to many of their desires. After consumers, some medical technology entities are also losers. For companies like Safe Heart, the profit from released datasets would reduce costs to the consumer. As a medical company, improving the public’s health is one of their primary missions. The potential that consumers may be re-identified, or targeted by marketing, with the data discourages release. The apprehension to release data limits data available to researchers making them losers as well. If data were released, researchers would be able to expedite research and provide solutions to prevalent health problems [5]. Consumers may resent the release of their data, but those trying to benefit them can produce worthwhile returns. Summary Advances in healthcare technology have also given birth to an increase in the amount of big data created by medical devices. Medical big data creates a unique set of legal and ethical issues that companies like Safe Heart must, and are, considering. Legally, acts like HIPAA and the Privacy Act do not sufficiently protect the data of patients. Data can move considerably freely and it is not always transferred in a completely anonymous state. It has been shown that organizations are not handling the data in an ethical manner. The release and negligent handling of the data completely invades the privacy of the patient. For marketers, this aids when trying to increase revenue. Due to many of these issues, companies have started to limit what data they share when medical devices generate it. Without accessible data sets, progress of researchers is slowed and the standard of care for the public falls. Both the benefits and risks must be considered when medical big data is involved. Conclusions Health devices transmitting big data are already involved in our lives. It is a serious legal issue that HIPAA and the Privacy Act do not govern our health data properly. It is critical that our laws catch up with this rapidly developing technology. A reasonable person may argue that health data should be completely restricted and there should be no transmission, or distribution, at all. It is true that data laws need to be revisited and improved, but complete restriction would be an extreme waste of the potential that medical big data stores. After the laws have been optimized for the technology, the data has the ability to improve health care throughout the nation. Big data can be extremely useful for entities like hospitals. Using patient data, hospitals can monitor a patient’s condition and know more quickly when they are due to worsen [7]. Advanced algorithms can also predict and help to prevent conditions like renal failure, infections, and negative reactions to drugs [7 ]. When physicians are combined with big data indicators, more patients can be helped and conditions can be monitored more reliably than in the past. In conclusion, I think that big data in healthcare should be embraced, but not before we strengthen the laws governing it. References [1] Kalyvas, James R. and Overly, Michael R. Big Data: A Business and Legal Guide. Auerbach Publications. 55-58. [2] Anderson, Nate. â€Å"Anonymized† data really isn’t—and here’s why not. 9/8/09. http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2009/09/your-secrets-live-online-in-databases-of-ruin/ [3] Njie, Craig Michael Lie. Technical Analysis of the Data Practices and Privacy Risks of 43 Popular Mobile Health and Fitness Applications. 7/15/2013 http://www.privacyrights.org/mobile-medical-apps-privacy-technologist-research-report.pdf. [4] Tanner, Adam. Health Entrepreneur Debates Going To Datas Dark Side. 9/16/14 http://www.forbes.com/sites/adamtanner/2014/09/16/health-entrepreneur-debates-going-to-datas-dark-side/ [5] Standen, Amy. How Big Data Is Changing Medicine. 9/29/14. http://blogs.kqed.org/science/audio/how-big-data-is-changing-medicine/ [6] Schmarzo, Bill. Big Data Technologies and Advancements in Healthcare. 3/25/14. https://infocus.emc.com/william_schmarzo/big-data-technologies-and-advancements-in-healthcare/

Consumerism & marketing Essay

The difference between needing and wanting has changed. In the past people bought products because they needed them; however by time, wanting has become the new needing. Purchasing â€Å"new goods and services with little attention to their true need, products origin, durability or the environmental consequences of manufacture and disposal† has become the new way of consuming. We do not consider why we are buying a certain product or a certain service because we feel that we need it. From a producing world we have shifted into a consumerist world. It is not about the culture, nor the tendencies of personality. With globalization and marketing people have forgotten what it is to buy what you need instead of what you think you need. The goal of marketers both local and international is to come up with marketing strategies through researches that would draw more customers to consume their services and products. According to Marken (n. d), â€Å"Consumerism has changed the rules of the game and produced the need for new strategies. By using the new rules to your advantage, you’re sure to end up on the winning side. † Marketing has taken over everything. Companies that had failed to develop effective marketing strategies end up losing to more successful businesses. To be able to construct a marketing strategy that will be helpful in their undertaking, they have to bear in mind the needs and wants of their target market. In a global context, more extensive researches are conducted to satisfy the needs of the market. It is not only the companies that have to adapt. Consumers also adapt to the changes in the market by responding to the offers. Consciously or not, the consumers had been manipulated to want the newest products in the hope that they will have a better life. Marketing has raised consumerism to what it is now, and has affected every one–male, female and even young kids. People in this country acquire goods even just for the sake of acquiring goods. This culture of consumerism, many people claim, will lead to the demise of the American society – both as they use up limited resources and abuse the capacities of their minds and body. But no matter how needed a change in the pattern of lifestyle and values may be, such will not easily take place. Consumerism is a historical phenomenon, its dynamics embedded with a number of social factors and historical events. In fact, it is social development in American society, both materially and ideologically, that gave rise to consumerism. The 1920s is usually identified as the dawn of consumerism. By this time, the industrial revolution had reached its fruitful stage, and mass production, mass distribution, and thus mass consumption are easily imagined and implemented. Indeed, that was what the owners of large industries and corporations set out to achieve. In order to do these, they designed new systems to control the full processes of production from the raw materials to the finished product. Together with the material reality that faced America in the 1920s was the marketing tool found in psychology. Advertisement campaigns are the core of this decade, shaping the mentality into one, which seek fulfillment in consumption and glorified it. The public was enticed to buy for the sake of buying more than anything else. The advertisements offered whatever one needed, wanted or just lacked. Perhaps there can be no clearer situation that demonstrated the power of advertising than during World War II. Even at a time when the nation was actually being frugal, living with recycling and rationing, advertisers worked hard to maintain the same level of consumerism. During the World War II, Americans supported their government by helping the nation economize, either by growing food in their own garden or by recycling resources for other productions. During the war even though there was not much to sell or not much available sources to buy anything, advertisers would still work on their campaigns. As everyone waited for the war to end, there came the excitement after the war. As the war ended, people were ready to forget and get back to their lives as consumers. New products were introduced during this era like aerosol spray cans or nylon. Such new products caught the attention of the consumer and created a cycle; newer products increased the willingness to buy more. One important factor that facilitated the continuity of consumerism well into the middle of the 20th century was the strategic targeting of women as main consumers. When the war ended, the family became a central part of society again, and women were pushed once more into the homes to become the dutiful wife and mother, integral to rebuilding a healthy and thriving society. The domestic role that woman had for years, and the baby boom after the war were great reasons to create new products and reasons to buy them. The increase in pregnancies and births after the war resulted in the focus of advertisers and producers. New baby products from toys to food, from clothes to books were introduced to the market. And mothers were pressured to have the best and be role models. With men as the ones who earned, women were the one who spent the money; and they spent it according to their role against men. Aside from consuming products for becoming the ideal mothers were the products for being the ideal wife and ideal housekeeper or the ideal woman. Since the early 1920’s consumerism has shifted with the help of marketing and mass production. Women who bought only their necessary needs, like cloths to make their own clothing, or meat that would be enough for the day for the whole family, went into buying the brand that stood ahead. Instead of making clothes for themselves, or having it made for them, people started to buy mass produced clothes from stores. As the quantity of items displayed in stores increased, the competition began. And there came the marketing department. The distinctions of branding, the ad campaigns, the photo shoots and the change in the concepts of beauty, need, and want are all what advertisers and marketers did. Changing one’s perception is not easy, but it is done everyday. Women who were just wives or mothers were now woman standing against their husbands or fathers. They had the opportunity to relieve themselves from their duties and add a little for their own. Now they had the opportunity to buy what they wanted or thought they needed. They had choices for kitchen appliances or furniture designs. Each magazine they bought had suggestions for fashion, make-up and hair, or for their family members. And each suggestion had one thing in common, the fact that it has to be purchased.

What is a Good Math SAT Subject Test Score in 2019

The majority of colleges and universities that require their applicants to submit SAT Subject Test scores are highly selective, and most will want to see SAT Math Subject Test scores of 700 or higher. While some schools will admit students with lower scores, the top science and engineering universities such as MIT and Caltech look for scores well over 700. SAT Math Subject Test Statistics A total of 139,163 students from the 2017-2019 graduating classes took the Math Level 1  exam and 426,033 students took the Math Level 2 exam. The mean score for the Math Level 1 exam was 610 and the mean score on Math Level 2 was 698. Subject test scores tend to be higher than general SAT scores—the average general math score of 2018 graduates was 531. The reason for this is that the SAT Subject Tests are optional and usually only taken by high-performing students applying to competitive colleges. Overall scores are a more accurate representation of all who take the SAT while Subject Test scores assess students whose academic performance is regularly above national averages. Percentile Ranking The table below shows the approximate percentile rankings of SAT Math Subject Test scores. Scores between the two math tests vary considerably because the Math 2 Test covers more sophisticated material. Students who have taken advanced mathematics courses through high school are usually the highest performers and take the Math 2 Test as it is the most appropriate for their skill level. In other words, the students who are strongest in math take the Math 2 Test. Math Subject Test Percentile Rankings Percentile Math Level 1 Score Math Level 2 Score 1 340 420 10 460 565 25 540 635 50 630 725 75 705 790 99 800 800 A table showing the approximate percentile rankings of SAT Math Subject Test scores. What Colleges Say About the Math SAT Subject Test Most universities do not make their SAT Subject Test admissions data available to the public for a number of reasons, but you can still get a general sense of what theyre looking for by comparing averages and scores from the past. Elite colleges often require Math Subject Test scores in the 700s and prefer that applicants take Test 2 rather than Test 1. The following list gives the Math Subject Test score averages for some of the nations best schools. MIT: Students in the 50th percentile scored between 790 and 800 on the Math Subject Tests. The scores of students at other elite engineering schools look much the same.Liberal Arts Colleges: Scores are well above average but slightly lower than those of MIT. Middlebury College has stated that they are accustomed to seeing scores in the low to middle 700s and  about two-thirds of students admitted to Williams College scored 700 or higher.Ivy League: At Princeton University, the middle 50 percent of applicants scored between 710 and 790 on their three highest SAT Subject Tests. Other Ivy League schools are similar.UCLA: Scores for the middle 50 usually fall within 640 and 740 in Math. The most selective colleges might consider a score below 700 on either Math Subject Test to be too low. The majority of successful applicants to these colleges as of 2019 received mid-to-high 700s on their Math Subject Tests. However, these schools have holistic admissions processes that look for academically well-rounded individuals, not just those that performed in the top percentiles of Subject Tests. They will analyze your performance outside of the SAT, so less than ideal scores in one area will probably not ruin your chances of getting in. SAT Subject Test Scores for College Credit Colleges are more likely to assign credit for the AP Calculus AB exam or AP Calculus BC exam than for the SAT Math Subject Test, but that doesnt mean that it isnt possible to cash your SAT Subject Test score in for credit. Some colleges grant course credit for the SAT Math Subject Test and may even use your score in place of a math placement exam to determine your mathematics trajectory at their school. Research the policies of your desired college to find out whether you qualify for either type of consideration. In general, though, colleges request Subject Test scores to provide them with data about an applicants college preparedness, not to determine whether students should bypass introductory courses.

Climate Change And Urban Areas Essay - 949 Words

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