Objective: To describe the promise and potential of big data analytics in healthcare. Methods: The paper describes the nascent field of big data analytics in healthcare, discusses the benefits, outlines an architectural framework and methodology, describes examples reported in the literature, briefly discusses the challenges, and offers conclusions. Results: The paper provides a broad overview of big data analytics for healthcare researchers and practitioners. Conclusions: Big data analytics in healthcare is evolving into a promising field for providing insight from very large data sets and improving outcomes while reducing costs. Its potential is great; however there remain challenges to overcome.