“… The coronavirus pandemic has pushed agencies including the Departments of Veterans Affairs (VA) and Health and Human Services (HHS) to focus on data initiatives and data interoperability. The ability to share data between agencies, hospitals, and providers has become vital for testing and tracing of COVID-19 cases. Recently, a panel of experts came together to discuss priority initiatives, how these are working to improve healthcare, and what the future of health information technology might look like.
“In the panel, Mark Vafiades, Senior Advisor, Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT, José Arrieta, former Chief Information Officer, Department of Health and Human Services, Kshemendra Paul, Chief Data Officer, Department of Veterans Affairs, Bill Tinston, Program Executive Officer, Defense Healthcare Management Systems, Military Health System, and John Harris, Director, Federal Mobility Solutions, Public Sector, Verizon offered insights on these issues.”
“’One of the challenges we had across the United States responding to this pandemic was visibility and a common operating picture,’ said Arrieta. To solve this challenge, HHS Protect was launched. ‘HHS Protect is focused on protecting people, protecting transparency, protecting privacy, protecting security, and finally protecting integrity’ with data sharing from states, hospitals, and agencies. This data sharing helps to ensure that COVID contact tracing is accurate, health records are updated, and resources are being used wisely.”
“Data sharing was echoed by the other panelists as the focus for their agencies among the height of the pandemic. Vafiades shared that interoperability and health data sharing in a ‘common picture’ was top of mind, especially taking the CARES Act into account. ‘This will allow and require healthcare organizations and providers to share that information with…” Read the full article here.
Source: HHS and VA Focus on Data Interoperability and Data Initiatives to Aid in Pandemic Response – By Jackie Davis, November 30, 2020. Government Technology insider.
