Using Big Data & Analytics to Predict Hospital Re-Admissions

“Big data” is a term often used to describe very large data sets, ranging from terabytes to exabytes, which are often complex (Chen, Chiang, & Storey, 2012). SAS, an American developer of advanced analytical software, defines big data as a term to describe “large volumes of data, both structured and unstructured, that inundates business on a day-to-day basis”. Industry analyst Doug Laney suggested that a big data system should carry the attributes of volume, velocity, and variety (SAS, n.d.). In addition to those three attributes of big data, SAS also considers variability and complexity.