Why physicians don't like big data

Dr. Venkat Warren worries in a recent Wall Street Journal article that "some bean-counter will decide what performance is," and fears that the application of big data analytics and the pressure to meet a long list of performance metrics might force clinicians to avoid caring for older and sicker patients who could drag down their performance numbers. "If it isn't cost-cutting, what is it?" says Warren, a cardiologist in California's MemorialCare Health System. Many doctors also rightly point out that their scores in a pay-for-performance system are not completely under their control.