By Patty Enrado, Editor
A panel of federal agency CIOs and health IT leaders will discuss new advancements in health information exchange, the linkage of health and human services and health IT innovation in the federal sector on Monday, March 1, in education session 46.
Vish Sankaran, program director for the Federal Health Architecture, Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT, Dept. of Health and Human Services, will lead the session, “Federal Health – Transitioning to a Citizen-centric, Information-driven Enterprise,” at 12:15 PM – 1:15 PM in Room B302.
Federal agencies have been leading the way in driving new advancements in HIE and aligning their efforts with the Nationwide Health Information Network, he said. Panelists will discuss their HIE initiatives and goals, including supporting the health needs of active duty service personnel, veterans, Native Americans, the underserved and applicants for government disability benefits.
Federal agencies are also focused on linking health and human services to “improve the delivery of health services to better the overall human services,” said Sankaran. Many human services are attached to health services. The challenge to coordinate care is compounded by the multiple programs and IT systems at local, state and federal levels. “We have to figure out how to talk to one another,” he said. “Information needs to be better coordinated.”
To that end, federal agencies are trying to standardize and streamline systems and programs to enable one-time data collection for multiple uses, which would help reduce overall cost and improve public health response, Sankaran said.
Lastly, panelists will discuss innovation in health IT that is being created within their federal agencies. The end game is: “How are you making organizations smarter and better, and achieve your mission in a timely manner?” Sankaran said.