ONC blogs about learning health system, State Innovation Mode developments

After almost two months, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) has posted to its blog, sharing information about efforts to create a learning health system and tools and resources available for State Innovation Model states.

National Coordinator Karen DeSalvo, MD, MPH, MSc, wrote about the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Data for Health initiative which aims to assess how data and information can be used to improve health in our country. After hosting several events to hear from leaders, residents and professionals from a range of sectors, the foundation has released Data for Health: Learning What Works, prepared by the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute at Virginia Tech. 

The sessions were designed to learn what health information is important to communities across our country, and how this information can help people lead healthier lives and improve overall health. ONC attended listening sessions because "meeting communities where they are is important to our team, and attending these sessions provided us with insight about how the health system can be improved through the use of health information, and the challenges we must address moving forward," DeSalvo wrote.

Data for Health: Learning What Works captures three main themes and a set of recommended next steps in the following areas, which resounded across all five “Learning What Works” sessions:

• Establish the data exchange value proposition: Community members emphasized that people do not have a clear understanding of why certain data should be shared or used;
• Build trust and community data competence: One participant noted that “data moves at the speed of trust,” a theme which rang loudly in all five sessions. Participants expressed concern over organizational and technical trust issues; and
• Build community data infrastructure: Communities have a greater chance of succeeding at health and well-being when organizations work together to create networks that integrate health with social and community services.

Another blog post discusses ONC's plans to develop specialized technical assistance and comprehensive online health IT tools and resources for State Innovation Model states. Authored by Kelly Cronin, director of ONC's Office of Care Transformation and Ahmed E. Haque, director of ONC's Office of Programs & Engagement, the post says the SIM initiative "supports states in developing or implementing a customized, fully developed plan capable of creating statewide health transformation to improve healthcare.

"At ONC and [the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation], we know that successful implementation of the model requires an important balance of mastery of health IT, health information exchange infrastructure, and motivated community participants. Working together to achieve the highest quality of learning and sharing innovative practices across the states that are participating in the program, we will be able to aggregate existing materials and create powerful new tools that will help support state efforts to transform their health systems at state, community, and provider levels."

Read the complete blog posts.