By Bruce Greenstein, HHS Chief Technology Officer and Mona Siddiqui, Chief Data Officer
Twitter:Â @HHSIDEALab
In 2010, a small group of individuals from HHS and the public sector, tech industry, and healthcare systems gathered with a single question in mind: What data is required to understand and improve health outcomes? How do we share it internally and externally? This first meeting of the public and private sector to identify ways that data can be used to improve health outcomes led to an annual conference called the Health Datapalooza.
The 9th annual Health Datapalooza returns on April 26-27, 2018 in Washington, DC with the same spirit for innovation, bias towards action, and focus on outcomes.
Health Datapalooza is the conference that brings together federal policymakers, health startups, and health system leaders for actionable conversations on how data can be used to improve health and healthcare.
Since, 2010, the HHS Office of the CTO has led the charge for Open Data and has released more than 1,500 data sets on HealthData.Gov. The Open Data movement continues to be a focus of the Department and the Office of the CTO is committed to fostering the use of data for social good. Now, we turn our focus to examining how HHS is using its own data assets to make more evidence-based policy decisions and to develop data-driven solutions for complex problems.
Last year’s HHS Opioid Code-a-Thon, gave our team a look into the many rich data assets at HHS and showed the public and the Department what innovative solutions can be developed when the public and the private sector come together.
We are coming to Health Datapalooza this year looking for ideas: What would you like to see improved on HealthData.gov? How can we meaningfully engage with researchers and entrepreneurs to understand what is needed and important on HealthData.gov? How do we balance data quality with data availability and timeliness at HHS?
Health Datapalooza is the perfect venue to listen to your ideas and share our plans for the future.
As we continue to advocate for Open Data, we are also focusing on how data is used internally at HHS through the Data Insights Initiative. Our vision is an HHS where data are shared, connected, and analyzed in responsible ways to improve how HHS delivers on its mission to enhance and protect the health and well-being of all Americans. We are working with HHS data stewards and open data stakeholders to better understand how we can intelligently use HHS data assets to make evidence-based policy decisions.
Responsible and accountable use of data are topics that are pervasive in our daily discourse. How do other large organizations create responsible, transparent, and accountable processes for data sharing? How can data be connected for real time actionable impact? These are tough but timely issues that require a diverse set of perspectives and a continued commitment from all stakeholders.
Along with the HHS CTO, this year at Health Datapalooza you’ll hear from the Secretary of Health and Human Services, the CMS Administrator, FDA Commissioner, the National Coordinator for Health IT and other public and private sector healthcare leaders. Breakout sessions will cover everything from public health surveillance, citizen science and crowdsourcing, machine learning and more.
Whether you are a patient, a provider, or a health data enthusiast, the opportunity to share knowledge across sectors and to see how health data is playing a central role in advancing meaningful solutions is an unparalleled opportunity at the Health Datapalooza. Working alongside startups and industry to solve complex problems is a cornerstone and key principle of the Office of the CTO. We don’t have all the answers, but together we can start to connect data to drive change.
We’re attending the Health Datapalooza in order to collaborate and build partnerships as we search for answers to the above questions. The Office of the CTO is committed to being a leader in promoting the use of data for better decisions and to drive change. We look forward to seeing you there and continuing this conversation.
Editor’s Note: Register for the Health Datapalooza. HHS is a sponsor of the conference.
This article was originally published on HHS Idea Lab and is republished here with permission.