A new initiative is increasing the usability and accessibility of important health data provided by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
GovDelivery recently announced the availability of a case study that offers details on the solution. The updated Healthdata.gov system offers a data portal that provides improved access to health and social services data. The intent is to facilitate better transparency, research, and healthcare innovations.
As a prerequisite, HHS updated the technology used to support Healthdata.gov. The solution required a more efficient system that offered a better user experience for health insurance teams, researchers, and providers.
The new technology was used to aggregate “big data.” That’s an industry buzz-phrase used to describe unusually large databases.
Damon Davis is the director of the Health Data initiative. He said that he wants more people to understand how much health data is accessible.
“Government resources should be openly available and reusable,” he said. “We’re looking forward to capitalizing on our communication opportunities through GovDelivery to amplify the health innovation message and drive a larger audience to understanding how much data are available to them.”
Andrew Hoppin is president of NuCivic at GovDelivery. He sees Healthdata.gov as a role model for other agencies.
“Healthdata.gov is a great example of how making government resources available directly online can help create better lives for people,” he said. “This enhanced health data portal is connecting more people to valuable services and improving access to critical health data resources, promoting healthcare innovation and supporting HHS’s mission of fostering advances in medicine, public health and social services."
The solution relied on the GovDelivery Open Data for open-source support. As a result, Healthdata.gov now offers over 2,000 data sets from various government agencies including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
The updated system also enables entrepreneurs, health care providers, and patients to use data to make health care decisions.
Edited by
Kyle Piscioniere
