White House cites use of health data as example of its innovation initiative

Efforts by federal agencies to release health data have given the Obama administration an opportunity to tout its national innovation strategy, which is aimed in part at accelerating job growth in the health information technology sector, the government's top technologist said on Wednesday.

"Government health data in file cabinets in Washington actually is an inhibitor to all the creativity and entrepreneurial energy in the country. So we're releasing it," said Aneesh Chopra, federal chief technology officer. The Health and Human Services Department "says we're going to release thousands of data elements about the health performance at the community level."

Chopra spoke at a summit hosted by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a Washington think tank.

He said much of this data already is accessible on the Internet, but on websites that most people, including those at Wednesday's event, don't know exist. For example, Hospital Compare is a relatively obscure site that allows users to gauge the quality of health care services at hospitals that agree to report data on the outcomes of their procedures.

Chopra said by typing a hospital's name in Microsoft's Internet search engine Bing, a user will see a results page that has "a little box in the middle that has snapshots of hospital compare quality data. You don't need to know that you need to visit the Hospital Compare website. You get it right in front of you."

The Obama administration in September 2009 released a white paper on innovation that centered on expanding research and development, supporting the clean energy and health IT sectors, and promoting entrepreneurship.

Entrepreneurship includes the concept of open government; a strategy to create good government that includes disclosure of agency information; online efforts to engage citizens in policymaking; and greater collaboration with global, federal, state and local organizations. One component of the strategy is an open government plan that federal agencies were required to publish in April as a roadmap for instilling transparency, citizen engagement and collaboration into their culture.

At the time, a coalition of government watchdog associations gave most of the plans mediocre ratings. The group, led by OpenTheGovernment.org, called on agencies to revise their blueprints and to resubmit them.

On Tuesday, OpenTheGovernment.org reported that 23 of 39 agencies updated their plans, including HHS. The department's revision ranked at the top of the list, with a score of 70 out of 60, including bonus points, up from 44 in April. HHS collected bonus points partly by making it easy for people to download health information.

Google took the same data that Bing uses and released a free app, showcased on HHS' open government home page, that lets anyone mash up the information on their own spreadsheets and charts. One developer created a tool that locates the best place to be in America if you have chest pain, Chopra said.

"This is how we're translating innovation strategy into reality in the administration," he said.