As the data analytics industry has grown, health care is one of the sectors that has benefited the most. Many health organizations have systems in place to gather and analyze large quantities of information, and that trend is only going to continue to grow in the near future. As this blog has reported, several studies have predicted exponential increases for the health care analytics market over the course of the next few years.

Now experts are focusing on how those analytics tools can evolve to become more effective. Seed fund Rock Health has published a report titled “Predictive Analytics: The Future of Personalized Healthcare,” saying that the necessary next step is a shift from the current descriptive analytics to a predictive model.

According to the report, capitalists have already invested $1.9 billion in predictive analytics projects — a large sum, but a fraction of the total market. That number will go up, bringing benefits to both patients and health care providers. Accurate predictive analytics can greatly reduce costs for organizations and assist in project planning.

Planning analytics are possible thanks to the growth of the Internet of Things, which is generating data about health care consumers at an unprecedented rate. Through the implementation of an ETL architecture, all that information can be gathered together in one place for analysis.

Citing JAMA figures, Rock health points out that organizations could recoup $355 billion per year with effective data analysis. With comprehensive, accurate analytics tools in place, health care providers can improve their decision-making processes and strategic choices.