Healthcare data: A beast best tamed by machine learning?

Healthcare is a ripe target for machine learning to both optimize processes and greatly improve care delivery. Take Mercy Health, for instance. When the health system was considering ways to improve care delivery, hospital executives looked at one of the most successful initiatives it had undertaken in the last decade: supply chain management. "We have a lot of experience with operational efficiency," said Todd Stewart, MD, vice president of clinical integrated solutions at Mercy. Using the operative suite as an example, he noted that all the supplies that go into and through it are very expensive.