Giving Compass' Take:

• Netflix co-founder Marc Randolph spoke at the Healthcare Analytics Summit in Utah and urged healthcare professionals to shift big data toward health innovation rather than maintain the status quo. 

• As big data becomes more capable and prevalent in healthcare, will more hospitals and medical schools start pushing for more innovation from professionals in the field?

• Read about the emerging world of online health communities.

Healthcare Analytics Summit held at the Grand America Hotel, co-founder of Netflix, Marc Randolph said the takeaways that apply to innovators in all industries are "the capacity to generate ideas," a "tolerance for risk," and of course, confidence and optimism.

The conference, in its fifth year, is hosted by Salt Lake data analytics startup Health Catalyst, and is designed to teach the health care industry how to use big data to make decisions on how to improve patient care. Speakers preached data solutions to medical problems because the expert use of analytics has shown to be capable of not only pinpointing inefficiencies in treatment and health organization management but also identifying solutions, said Dan Burton, CEO of Health Catalyst.

"There is an absolute data explosion. If you think of 10 or 20 years ago, there was literally no electronic data about you as an individual, from a health perspective. Now we've shifted to where medical records are electronic, (and) shifted dramatically in terms of what other data we're able to collect through your iPhone, through other sensors, through other devices," Burton said.

"I don't think great physicians, or innovative physicians, are going to go to places that don't have data capability," Cosgrove told attendees. "That's going to become an increasing coin of the realm. I mean, it's a must-have." Cosgrove said this is partly because, in "how doctors are selected" in their schooling in training, "you're not selected or trained to be innovative. You're trained to be repetitive and maintain the status quo."

Keeping the status quo is precisely the opposite of what was behind Netflix's success story, Randolph said. Rather, taking risks is what ultimately paid off.

Read the full article about health innovation by Ben Lockhart at Deseret News Utah