Improving Access to Health Care Data
The Open Government Strategy
- Patrick H. Conway, MD, MSc;
- Jordan M. VanLare, AB
- Author Affiliations: Division of General Pediatrics, Anderson Center for Health Systems Excellence, and Division of Health Policy and Clinical Effectiveness (Dr Conway), Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio; Department of Health and Human Services, Washington, DC (Dr Conway and Mr VanLare); and Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, New York (Mr VanLare).
Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text.
- KEYWORDS:
- DATABASES AS TOPIC
- HEALTH POLICY
- HEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH
- INFORMATION SYSTEMS
- STATISTICS AS TOPIC
- UNITED STATES DEPT. OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
- UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT AGENCIES
Access to high-quality data is critical to innovation, quality improvement, and increased efficiency in health care. The federal government has signaled that expanding access to and improving the quality of health care data for the purpose of research is a priority. In its report to Congress,1 the Federal Coordinating Council for Comparative Effectiveness Research emphasized the need for investment in data infrastructure and access to support comparative effectiveness research. The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology included the promotion of a nationwide health information technology infrastructure to facilitate health and clinical research as part of its mission.2
The April 2010 release of the Department of Health and Human Services' (DHHS’) Open Government3 strategy was a major step forward in expanding health data access. The DHHS developed the strategy in response to President Obama's Open Government Directive4—a call for federal agencies to create …
