Health Data Consortium, a non-profit advocacy and membership organization dedicated to mobilizing health data to transform the U.S. health care system, today announced the formal release of Health Data All Stars, the first-of-its-kind directory of the top domestic health data resources publicly available at the federal, state, and local levels.
The 50 plus All Stars highlight user-friendly data visualization and exploration tools, such as Kaiser Family Foundation’s State Health Facts and government data query tools like Health Indicators Warehouse. All of the resources featured in Health Data All Stars are searchable and shareable.
“Health Data All Stars is a collection of the organizations and entrepreneurs who are leading the nation in putting health data to use to improve the quality of our health care system and the health and wellness of patients,” said Health Data Consortium Chief Executive Officer Dwayne Spradlin. “These All Stars serve as models and resources for others seeking to leverage open health data to drive the next generation of tools and innovations in health.”
The Health Data Consortium and the California HealthCare Foundation (CHCF) teamed up to launch this catalog. Through a grant from CHCF, Forum One Communications built the site, beginning their work by speaking with leading health researchers, government officials, entrepreneurs, advocates and others to identify the best of the best in online health data. The resources selected were based on ease of use, relevance and comprehensiveness.
“The information needed to deliver more value in health care, help communities understand health issues facing them, and get the right treatments to patients is out there,” said Andy Krackov, senior program officer at California HealthCare Foundation. “We need to harness those insights through the open exchange and availability of health data across the entire health care continuum.”
With the ongoing implementation of the Affordable Care Act, many of these health data resources continue to provide significant updates to bring new data to policymakers, entrepreneurs and the public. Health Data Consortium makes these resources available in one collection to explore and to foster the development of a broader network of Health Data All Stars who are working to improve the availability and innovative use of data to improve health and health care.
Health Data Consortium will continue to expand the program to include many more data sources over the coming year. To stay up-to-date and share your Health Data All Stars, follow @hdconsortium and join the conversation at #HealthDataAllStars.
Forum One Communications conducted research, and designed and developed the Health Data All Stars collection. This project was funded by the California HealthCare Foundation, and also includes a list of California-specific health data resources. Visit Health Data All Stars at http://bit.ly/hdcallstars.
About the Health Data Consortium
The Health Data Consortium is a collaboration among government, non-profit, and private sector organizations working to foster the availability and innovative use of data to improve health and health care. The Consortium advocates with data sources to promote best practices and information sharing; and works with businesses, entrepreneurs, and academia to help them understand how to use data to develop new products, services, apps, and research insights. Learn more at www.healthdataconsortium.org or @hdconsortium on Twitter.
March 12, 2014
By: Dan Charobee, MBA
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