Blog

Announcing the Stewards of Change Institute: A New Not For Profit Organization

As the Chairman of Stewards of Change Institute, I am proud to announce that the Institute has received official recognition by the IRS as a tax exempt 501(c)(3) public charity.  SOC Institute was organized exclusively to research, support, and educate the general public, government agencies, judiciary, private businesses, foundations, and not for profits about sharing and […]

Linking at the Edge of the Enterprise

When designers and programmers have put their best thinking into creating an enterprise information system, their energies and mental focus are on the collection, storage, retrieval and manipulation of the data that the enterprise needs to do business.  Whether it is criminal justice, health, human services or education, the enterprise is the primary purpose, and […]

New England Consortium Convenes Information Sharing Symposium to Link Health and Human Services

Since 1999 Health and Human services leaders in New England have been partnering to leverage each other’s service improvements and cost containment initiatives. In 2011 those collaborative relationships resulted in the award of a CMS funded Early Innovator grant to the region to test the concepts of reusability in building state-based health insurance exchanges.  In the midst, […]

Ruthlessly Strategic!

  Two poignant words – ruthlessly strategic – echoed across the walls of the Glass Pavilion at Johns Hopkins University as Jessica Kahn delivered an impassioned challenge to participants during the closing panel of the 8th Annual Stewards of Change Symposium.  Participants got it.  They understand that now is the time to act – with […]

Tweeting the 2013 SOC Symposium

Excitement is building in the week leading up to the 8th Annual National Stewards of Change Symposium (June 10-12,  in partnership with Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD).  Enrollment is at capacity, with public sector, private industry, and non-profit thought leaders and early innovators from across the country.  This year’s line-up of speakers is sure to […]

GAO Report on Human Services: Sustained and Coordinated Efforts Could Facilitate Data Sharing While Protecting Privacy

On February 21, the Government Accountability Office (GAO), released a report on the state of data sharing and exchange in state and local government human services agencies and programs.  The report, which is titled Human Services:  Sustained and Coordinated Efforts Could Facilitate Data Sharing While Protecting Privacy,  provides a review of steps the federal government […]

7th Annual SOC Symposium Discussion of Recommendations With Federal Partners

On October 9th a small group of attendees from the 7th Annual Stewards of Change Symposium discussed key findings and recommendations with federal leaders from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight and Food and Nutritional Services.  Over the past three months many participants contributed to the review […]

Reaching Across Boundaries

Even within an organization that might think of itself as an enterprise, such as a police department or a hospital, there are impediments to open communications and information sharing.   Tightly knit communities of interest within enterprises are generally regarded as places where information is freely and openly shared in order for the members of such […]

Interoperability At The Tipping Point

Whatever you call it – a tipping point, a paradigm shift, an inflection point – we are on the verge of a fundamental shift in the way human services are designed, built and delivered across America.  Of course it is not by chance, but rather the dividend of a tremendous investment of energy, devotion, creativity […]