HHS Releases Strategy Centered on Data Management, Health Services Interoperability

The Department of Health and Human Services has released its data strategy with a focus on innovation and improved outcomes.

According to the HHS, the data strategy has five main priorities: data talent cultivation, data sharing, data integration, human services data connectivity and artificial intelligence usage. The strategy also expands the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology’s role to include the coordination of human services interoperability.

Finally, the strategy promotes better data access, ensuring that the Cancer Moonshot program would cut cancer-related deaths in half in the next 25 years and that efforts to eliminate cancer progress, the HHS said Thursday.

The department has been working on technological capabilities in recent months, having released two documents in December alone.

On Wednesday, the HHS released “Health Data, Technology and Interoperability: Certification Program Updates, Algorithm Transparency and Information Sharing,” a set of transparency standards for AI and predictive algorithms used in health information technology. The standards are designed to promote responsible AI use and access to basic information about algorithms used in health-related decision-making.

Earlier in the month, the HHS released a concept paper detailing the health care sector’s cyber posture. The concept paper advocates for voluntarily reporting incidents and creating a department-wide strategy supporting cybersecurity enforcement and accountability.