Which option is not typically a data source in healthcare big data?

• A. Personal diaries.
• B. Medicare claims.
• C. Hospital admissions.
• D. Genomics.

Answer: (A)

In healthcare big data, the reliable sources are large, structured datasets that come from routine care and research workflows. Medicare claims provide a comprehensive view of services, costs, and utilization across populations, which is essential for population health analytics and policy studies. Hospital admissions data capture actual inpatient events and clinical activity, forming a core part of clinical analytics and quality measurement. Genomics data add detailed genetic information that enables research and precision medicine applications at scale. Personal diaries, while potentially offering valuable patient narratives, are typically unstructured, inconsistently collected, and not anchored to standardized clinical workflows, making them not a typical data source for large-scale healthcare analytics. They may be used in specific studies or as patient-reported outcomes, but they don’t fit the standard big-data pipelines as neatly as claims, admissions, or genomics do.