TechAmerica Releases New White Paper on the Benefits of Health Data

WASHINGTON, May 8, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- TechAmerica's Human Services IT Advisory Group (HSITAG) released a white paper entitled, "The Role of Data in Health Care Reform:  Better Health, Better Care, & Lower Costs".  The paper outlines and highlights the potential benefits of using large scale health data sets and data analytics to help government and health organizations make better use of their limited resources and improve health outcomes.  HSITAG is a voluntary consortium of firms within TechAmerica working to improve health and human services through IT and modern management practices.

"Data holds tremendous promise to improve the quality and cost of our nation's health care system," said TechAmerica's Senior Vice President for Public Sector and Federal Government Affairs Mike Hettinger.  "TechAmerica's HSITAG committee put together this white paper to provide tangible examples of where and how data can benefit the health care system for payers, providers, and consumers.  However, in order to realize these benefits, the health care system needs to adopt and embrace systems and structures that allow for information sharing and outcome based analytics, while at the same time protecting the personal privacy of an individual's health records."

The paper provides a series of recommendations to the states, including:

• Define clear goals and questions to be answered with the data,
• Create cross-functional governance teams to pull together relevant data,
• Build organizational capability by focusing on the low hanging fruit,
• Empower consumers and caregivers and
• Take advantage of federal funding for design, development, and implementation.

A copy of the white paper can be found here.

About TechAmerica
Representing technology companies of all sizes, the TechAmerica trade association is dedicated to advocating for the ICT sector before decision-makers at the state, federal and international levels of government.  With offices in Washington, D.C., Silicon Valley, Brussels and Beijing, as well as regional offices around the U.S., we deliver our members top-tier business intelligence and networking opportunities on a global scale. We are committed to expanding market opportunities and driving the competitiveness of the U.S. technology industry around the world. Learn more about TechAmerica at www.techamerica.org.

SOURCE TechAmerica