In the second quarter of 2017, one in every six ER visits was opioid related, according to data published Monday by the AI health outcomes and data company OM1.
To generate this estimate, OM1 created a prototype that uses big data analytics to track the opioid crisis' impact. The tracker leverages OM1's data cloud, which contains continually updated sets of information on the U.S. healthcare system.
"The opioid epidemic has reached alarming levels in the US, affecting the lives of millions of individuals and families," said Vandana Menon, vice president of research at OM1. "Big data analytics provide an enormous opportunity to be able to track and evaluate the crisis in near real time With this prototype, we are hoping to contribute invaluable data that allows researchers and the healthcare community to gain a deeper, more comprehensive understanding of the magnitude, trends and clusters that are being most affected."
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