Big Data and Ambulatory Care Breaking Down Legal Barriers to Support Effective Use

Abstract: Big data is heralded as having the potential to revolutionize health care by making large amounts of data available to support care delivery, population health, and patient engagement. Critics argue that big data’s transformative potential is inhibited by privacy requirements that re-strict health information exchange. However, there are a variety of permissible activities involving use and disclosure of patient information that support care delivery and management. This article presents an overview of the legal framework governing health information, dispels misconcep-tions about privacy regulations, and highlights how ambulatory care providers in particular can maximize the utility of big data to improve care. Key words: big data, confidentiality, disclosure, health information, health information exchange, HIPAA, legal, privacy, quality improvement, security WHAT IS BIG DATA? The relatively new term “big data ” is com-monly understood as data exceeding th