Advancing Healthcare Through Data Analytics Transitioning from Descriptive Insights to Predictive and Prescriptive Solutions
Fahim Rahman1*, Ariful Islam2, Sonia Nashid3, Al Akhir2, Sonia Khan Papia4
Paradise 1(1) 1-8 https://doi.org/10.25163/paradise.1110377
Submitted: 29 April 2025 Revised: 23 July 2025 Published: 25 July 2025
This study integrated data analytics transforms healthcare decision-making, improving accuracy, efficiency, and patient-centered outcomes through descriptive, predictive, and prescriptive solutions.
Abstract
Background: The healthcare field stores large digital datasets through its clinical information systems and patient observation systems and diagnostic examination systems and administrative workflows. Healthcare service delivery needs data transformation to create operational knowledge which improves service delivery processes. The transition from traditional reporting systems to predictive and prescriptive reporting systems enables advanced analytics to deliver proactive patient-centered care.
Methods: Researchers studied hospital records from 115 healthcare facilities throughout the 24-month duration that began in January 2024 and ended in December 2025. A three-phase analytical framework was applied. Researchers used descriptive analytics during the initial phase to investigate patterns inpatient admissions and readmissions together with treatment outcomes. Predictive analytics developed readmission prediction models through logistic regression and decision trees while producing patient outcome probability estimations.
Results: The analysis of admission data shows chronic diseases make up 36% of hospital admissions and 42% of these patients return to the hospital within thirty days. The analysis found that 28% of hospital admissions were due to acute infections while surgical complications made up 22% of admissions with 19% of patients returning to the hospital within thirty days. The predictive modeling system showed high predictive ability since logistic regression delivered 83% accuracy but decision trees achieved 87% accuracy together with 82% sensitivity and 84% specificity levels.
Conclusion: The study demonstrates that descriptive analytics explains previous performance while predictive analytics forecasts risks and prescriptive analytics delivers practical solutions.
Keywords: Healthcare analytics, Descriptive insights, Predictive modeling, Prescriptive solutions, Patient outcomes
References
Alghamdi, A., Alsubait, T., Baz, A., & Alhakami, H. (2021). Healthcare analytics: A comprehensive review. Engineering Technology & Applied Science Research, 11(1), 6650–6655. https://doi.org/10.48084/etasr.3965
Alharthi, H. (2018). Healthcare predictive analytics: An overview with a focus on Saudi Arabia. Journal of Infection and Public Health, 11(6), 749–756. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jiph.2018.02.005
Bauskar, S. R., Madhavaram, C. R., Galla, E. P., Sunkara, J. R., & Gollangi, H. K. (2022). Predicting disease outbreaks using AI and big data: A new frontier in healthcare analytics. European Chemical Bulletin. https://doi.org/10.53555/ecb.v11i12.17745
Berros, N., Mendili, F. E., Filaly, Y., & Idrissi, Y. E. B. E. (2023). Enhancing digital health services with big data analytics. Big Data and Cognitive Computing, 7(2), 64. https://doi.org/10.3390/bdcc7020064
Cano-Marin, E., Mora-Cantallops, M., & Sanchez-Alonso, S. (2023). Prescriptive graph analytics on the digital transformation in healthcare through user-generated content. Annals of Operations Research. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10479-023-05495-z
Chowdhury, A. K., & Hossain, M. M. (2025). Exploring the role of renewable energy in enhancing rural livelihoods. Energy Environment and Economy, 3(1), 1–7. https://doi.org/10.10328
Dash, S., Shakyawar, S. K., Sharma, M., & Kaushik, S. (2019). Big data in healthcare: Management, analysis and future prospects. Journal of Big Data, 6(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40537-019-0217-0
Diamant, A. (2023). Introducing prescriptive and predictive analytics to MBA students with Microsoft Excel. INFORMS Transactions on Education, 24(2), 152–174. https://doi.org/10.1287/ited.2023.0286
Epizitone, A., Moyane, S. P., & Agbehadji, I. E. (2023). A data-driven paradigm for a resilient and sustainable integrated health information system for healthcare applications. Journal of Multidisciplinary Healthcare, 16, 4015–4025. https://doi.org/10.2147/jmdh.s433299
Fernandes, D. (2024). Prescriptive analytics in healthcare: Advanced decision making for optimal treatment. Theseus. https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2024060621539
Forbes, A., & Griffiths, P. (2002). Methodological strategies for the identification and synthesis of ‘evidence’ to support decision-making in relation to complex healthcare systems and practices. Nursing Inquiry, 9(3), 141–155. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1440-1800.2002.00146.x
Frazzetto, D., Nielsen, T. D., Pedersen, T. B., & Šikšnys, L. (2019). Prescriptive analytics: A survey of emerging trends and technologies. The VLDB Journal, 28(4), 575–595. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00778-019-00539-y
Gates, J. D., Yulianti, Y., & Pangilinan, G. A. (2024). Big data analytics for predictive insights in healthcare. International Transactions on Artificial Intelligence (ITALIC), 3(1), 54–63. https://doi.org/10.33050/italic.v3i1.622
Houtmeyers, K. C., Jaspers, A., & Figueiredo, P. (2021). Managing the training process in elite sports: From descriptive to prescriptive data analytics. International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance, 16(11), 1719–1723. https://doi.org/10.1123/ijspp.2020-0958
Islam, M. R., & Chowdhury, A. K. (2025). The socio-economic effects of transitioning from conventional energy sources to renewable energy systems. Energy Environment and Economy, 3(1), 1–8. https://doi.org/10.10320
Islam, M. S., Hasan, M. M., Wang, X., Germack, H. D., & Noor-E-Alam, M. (2018). A systematic review on healthcare analytics: Application and theoretical perspective of data mining. Healthcare, 6(2), 54. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare6020054
Lepenioti, K., Bousdekis, A., Apostolou, D., & Mentzas, G. (2019). Prescriptive analytics: A survey of approaches and methods. In Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing (pp. 449–460). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04849-5_39
El Khatib, M., Hamidi, S., Al Ameeri, I., Al Zaabi, H., & Al Marqab, R. (2022). Digital disruption and big data in healthcare: Opportunities and challenges. ClinicoEconomics and Outcomes Research, 563–574. https://doi.org/10.2147/ceor.sXXXX
Malleswari, T. Y. J. N., Ushasukhanya, S., Karthikeyan, M., Cherian, A. K., & Vaidhehi, M. (2024). Role of predictive analytics for enhanced decision making in business applications. In Advances in Business Information Systems and Analytics (pp. 313–326). https://doi.org/10.4018/979-8-3693-3234-4.ch023
Morr, C. E., & Ali-Hassan, H. (2019). Descriptive, predictive, and prescriptive analytics. In SpringerBriefs in Health Care Management and Economics (pp. 31–55). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04506-7_3
Mosavi, N. S., & Santos, M. F. (2020). How prescriptive analytics influences decision making in precision medicine. Procedia Computer Science, 177, 528–533. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procs.2020.10.073
Muneeswaran, V., Nagaraj, P., Dhannushree, U., Lakshmi, S. I., Aishwarya, R., & Sunethra, B. (2021). A framework for data analytics-based healthcare systems. In Lecture Notes on Data Engineering and Communications Technologies (pp. 83–96). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-9651-3_7
Palanisamy, V., & Thirunavukarasu, R. (2017). Implications of big data analytics in developing healthcare frameworks: A review. Journal of King Saud University – Computer and Information Sciences, 31(4), 415–425. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jksuci.2017.12.007
Patnaik, M., & Mishra, S. (2022). Indoor positioning system assisted big data analytics in smart healthcare. In Studies in Computational Intelligence (pp. 393–415). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-97929-4_18
Pramanik, P. K. D., Pal, S., & Mukhopadhyay, M. (2021). Healthcare big data. In IGI Global eBooks (pp. 119–147). https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-6684-3662-2.ch006
Roy, D., Srivastava, R., Jat, M., & Karaca, M. S. (2022). A complete overview of analytics techniques: Descriptive, predictive, and prescriptive. In EAI/Springer Innovations in Communication and Computing (pp. 15–30). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-82763-2_2
Santos, R., Piqueiro, H., Dias, R., & Rocha, C. D. (2024). Transitioning trends into action: A simulation-based digital twin architecture for enhanced strategic and operational decision-making. Computers & Industrial Engineering, 198, 110616. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cie.2024.110616
Sarker, I. H. (2021). Data science and analytics: An overview from data-driven smart computing, decision-making and applications perspective. SN Computer Science, 2(5). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42979-021-00765-8
Sharma, A. K., Sharma, D. M., Purohit, N., Rout, S. K., & Sharma, S. A. (2021). Analytics techniques: Descriptive analytics, predictive analytics, and prescriptive analytics. In EAI/Springer Innovations in Communication and Computing (pp. 1–14). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-82763-2_1
Shi-Nash, A., & Hardoon, D. R. (2016). Data analytics and predictive analytics in the era of big data. In Handbook of Big Data (pp. 329–345). https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119173601.ch19
View Dimensions
View Altmetric
Save
Citation
View
Share