Though the flagging economy has served to moderate the rise in health care costs, total health spending continues to outpace inflation. Meanwhile, understanding what drives costs, how to improve quality — and how to increase access to care for those newly eligible for coverage under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) — requires data, and lots of it.

CHCF, in partnership with the Lucile Packard Foundation for Children’s Health, The SCAN Foundation, the California Health Policy Forum, and the West Wireless Health Institute, hosted a Sacramento briefing to engage policymakers and stakeholders in a conversation about freeing health care data from its sources.

Key presenter Todd Park, chief technology officer for the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and a champion of the “data liberation” movement, discussed the Health Data Initiative (HDI) and how open access to data can improve the nation’s health.

A panel discussed Park’s presentation and was introduced by Sandra Shewry, MPH, MSW, CHCF director of state health policy, and Mark D. Smith, MD, MBA, CHCF founding president and CEO. The reactor panel participants:

• Toby Ewing, consultant, California Senate
• Len Finocchio, associate director, California Department of Health Care Services
• Andy Krackov, assistant vice president, Programs and Partnerships, Lucile Packard Foundation for Children’s Health
• Barbara Needell, principal investigator of the California Child Welfare Performance Indicators Project, Center for Social Services Research, University of California, Berkeley
• René Seidel, vice president, Programs and Operations, The SCAN Foundation
• Ron Spingarn, deputy director, California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (OSHPD)

The briefing included a “datapalooza” data fair, in which representatives from various public and private organizations that provide data to policy staff, researchers, and the public discussed some innovative efforts under way.

Organizations and agencies taking part included CHCF; California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation; California Department of Public Health; California Office of the Patient Advocate; California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development; the Lucile Packard Foundation for Children’s Health; University of California, Los Angeles; and University of California, San Francisco.

A recording of the event and the presentation slides are available below.