Electronic medical records (EMRs) and patient-centric applications capture a wealth of new information that can be used not only for patient treatment, but also for operational efficiency and advances in the practice of medicine. To date, most of the analysis of this data has focused on structured data captured in forms and fields, but there is a much broader universe of unstructured data that can also deliver analytical value.

Natural Language Processing (NLP) allows computers to analyse, understand, and derive meaning from text and speech similar to humans. A subset of artificial intelligence, NLP can help organisations take advantage of unstructured data found in clinical notes, sensors in wearables, patient-reported data, and genomics.