Sebelius announces release of data at Health Datapalooza IV

At the Health Datapalooza IV conference that kicked off in Washington D.C. on June 3, Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced the release of open-source health data for researchers and developers.

The data include Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services county-level data on Medicare spending and utilization, data on Medicare beneficiaries with chronic conditions and selected hospital outpatient data that includes estimates for average charges for 30 types of hospital outpatient procedures from hospitals across the country, such as clinic visits, echocardiograms and endoscopies.

Sebelius also announced the release of Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT data on EHR use, including different brands of EHR products used by 146,000 doctors by location and specialty, as well as each physician’s stage in Meaningful Use attestation.

 “A more data driven and transparent healthcare marketplace can help consumers and their families make important decisions about their care. The administration is committed to making the health system more transparent and harnessing data to empower consumers,” Sebelius said in a statement.

The announcement follows the release of the average charges for the 100 most common inpatient procedures last month.