Within the health care sector, data viewed in new light

The Wall Street Journal: Numbers, Numbers And More Numbers
Under pressure to do more with less, insurers, pharmacy benefit managers and health care providers are all pushing data analysis to new heights. Insurers have been crunching numbers for years to figure out which patients are most likely to generate high costs. Now other groups are gauging probabilities of relapses, and the likelihood of a patient's not taking his or her medicine. Using models that draw on massive troves of medical and other data, some are also focusing on seemingly healthy individuals, trying to prevent problems before they occur (Tibken, 2/14).