By Adam Pertman The annual Medicaid Enterprise Systems Conference is always a great place to share ideas, learn about new initiatives and technologies, network with federal and state officials and engage with industry leaders from across the country. This year’s MESC – which took place in Chicago last week – was no exception. I’m gratified […]
Category: NIC
Innovative Information-Sharing: Administrative Data as a Strategic Asset
By The Pew Charitable Trusts Every day, state governments make decisions that affect their citizens’ lives. They determine which policies to enact and which problems to address. They establish how programs should be run and where budget dollars are best spent, as well as who qualifies for government assistance. To effectively serve the public, officials […]
Creating a Roadmap to Navigate the Maze of HHS Services
By Mary-Sara Jones, IBM Navigating government programs is difficult. I had been trying to support my father as he aged and his needs increased. He lived in another state, so I spent an incredible amount of time online and on the phone trying to understand what services were available and what was required for him […]
It’s Time to Add Prevention to the Fight Against the Opioid Epidemic; New Playbook Focuses on 11 Replicable Strategies to `Go Upstream’
By Daniel Stein and Paul Wormeli There are countless ways to demonstrate the horror of our nation’s opioid crisis, from raw numbers (over 47,600 opioid-related deaths in 2017) to records set (fatal overdoses now exceed vehicular deaths) to OMG descriptions of the drugs’ toxicity. A couple of recent examples: During a routine traffic stop last […]
The Cultural Challenge to Interoperability
By Paul Wormeli Even as there becomes greater acceptance of the need for interoperability across domains and disciplines in order to address serious social problems such as the opioid epidemic, cultural challenges remain as major obstacles to the practical implementation of this concept. One clear case study revealing the obstacles to interoperability can be found […]
Lessons from the Field: How to Successfully Share Data across Programs
Mary-Sara Jones, IBM Cross-program data-sharing has been one of the most popular topics at Health and Human Services conferences this year. Many states and counties are exploring different models of collaboration and integration, some focused on improving the client’s ability to engage with government, others on improving the agency’s ability to engage holistically with […]
Taking a Deeper Dive: Getting to Yes on Privacy and Confidentiality
By Ivy Pool, Senior Consultant, Stewards of Change Institute In times of shrinking budgets and increasing need, it is imperative that health and human service providers deliver efficient and cost-effective public services. Through the creation of new service delivery models centered on data integration and systems interoperability, providers can to reduce service delivery costs and […]
When It Comes to Collaboration, Sectors Emphasize Technical Aspects Over Cultural Ones
In a review of technical documents and toolkits on interoperability, what we found was almost as interesting as what we didn’t. By Margo Edmunds, Ph.D., Vice President for Evidence Generation and Translation, AcademyHealth All across the country, health and human services programs are making connections to provide more coordinated approaches to improving health and well-being in […]
Connecting the Dots: NIC . . . the Kresge Foundation . . . and the Road to Better Health and Well-being
By Daniel Stein, President, Stewards of Change Institute One of the underpinnings of our work at the National Interoperability Collaborative (NIC) is the understanding that “people constantly navigate multiple, interconnected systems — from education, transportation and employment to health, housing and human services — that shape their opportunities.” There are quote marks around the truism […]