Role of Informatics and Open Data, in addressing dissemination of Public Health data, faster, better and cheaper

      Open Data initiative across Health, Energy, Education, Finance, Public Safety and Global Development sectors have helped unlock troves of valuable data and are making these resources more open accessible to stakeholders, innovators, and the public. With a large number of baby boomers retiring, management of chronic diseases, have emerged as a key element to managing health care costs.  Access to relevant, platform independent, machine readable data, is actionable, and can assist the public, states, advocates and policy makers to identify appropriate interventions and/or policies, which can in turn reduce morbidity and mortality.  A team of multiple-disciplinary collaborators, worked together to research and identify a data dissemination solution that would provide access to public health data faster, better and at a lower cost.  Methods employed: (1) Gap analysis to identify future state for stakeholders while still meeting current user needs; (2) Cost to benefit analysis to determine whether to enhance existing in-house systems or replace with new technology; and (3) Comparative analysis to evaluate build vs buy, along with evaluating technology/tool options.  Key comparative differentiators included: initial and maintenance costs, platform independence, ability to re-use for other divisions, as well long term scaling and flexibility.  The recommended data dissemination solution provides: (1) Re-use across divisions; (2) Improved interactive data visualizations; and (3) Reduction in cost and time to disseminate data.  It utilizes an open format which allows datasets for various divisions, to be stored and accessed, in one space similar to a Health Information Exchange (HIE), rather than in individual soloed databases. The API-enabled datasets can then be accessed by any business intelligence solution or visualization software. 

Learning opportunities from this project include: (1) impact of the government open data initiative; (2) data dissemination to open data sources; (3) creating interactive visualizations; and (3) Open Data innovation projects.