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The situation in the United States is unique because of the wall that exists between health and social policy. The former is consuming close to 18 percent of U.S. GDP and, despite its terrible shortcomings, is a global symbol of medical prowess and innovation. Meanwhile, the latter is underfunded and underserviced as we can clearly see – unfortunately – during the current coronavirus crisis.
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While we have made progress through new technology and federal rules toward making a national health information exchange system a reality, just about everyone who works in this space knows we have “miles to go before we sleep”.   There are indeed local HIE’s that are quite successful, but few major operational state HIE’s and not a true national HIE system the likes of which we wished for when this work started.  Now Niam Yaraghi writes in an article published by the Brookings Institution that

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The coronavirus pandemic was front-and-center, of course, but the National Interoperability Collaborative (NIC) also had another broad, long-term objective in mind when it started planning this convening months ago, when the words “worst public health crisis in modern US history” referred to the opioid epidemic. Today, NIC’s objective remains the same; that is, to create a National Policy Action Agenda by year’s end designed to improve our nation’s too-siloed health-related systems by meaningful
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All of us at Stewards of Change Institute are excited that we’ll be presenting our new Interoperability Mural Gallery for just the third time, after successful showings at two other major national events this year. Those were the Community Information Exchange Summit in San Diego and the Medicaid Enterprise Systems Conference in Chicago.
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Thanks to You, a One-Year Anniversary for the NIC Hub

To all of you who are already taking advantage of the various activities on the NIC Collaboration Hub, thank you again for your support, participation and inspiration. To those who haven’t yet joined our community, consider this a personal invitation to get on board. After all, we all want to reach the same destination. Join Today!
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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 to say that Stewards of Change Institute had the privilege to show our innovative Interoperability Mural Gallery at the event.

It was the second time we’d presented a versio

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While researchers have explored the use of administrative data in various areas (for example, identifying frequent users of emergency services), little has been published on this trend more broadly. As state leaders seek to harness data in innovative ways, what common themes, noteworthy successes, and notable challenges have the 50 states experienced across a broad cross-section of issues? To address that question, The Pew Charitable Trusts interviewed state leaders across the U.S. and reviewed
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It is important to underscore that the Playbook’s contents represent a current snapshot of our evolving knowledge on how to address the opioid crisis, while also identifying the research and evidence-gathering that still must be undertaken to make better-informed decisions. Our intent is to regularly update the Playbook – most notably its plays – as we learn about new ideas and initiatives, and we welcome comments and contributions on the NIC Hub to keep it as up-to-date as possible.  
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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 the client. Both approaches will be highlighted during the National Interoperability Collaborative’s upcoming “Symposium in the NIC of Time,” where
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It is crystal clear that focusing more attention and resources on the Social Determinants of Health and Well-Being (colloquially, where we live, work and play) yields better outcomes in almost every way. Notwithstanding the evidence, however, health care spending dominates the way that the public and policymakers think about population health in most countries.
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With so much to be gained from data sharing and interoperability, why is it so hard to achieve? What are the “blockers” that prevent agencies from effectively sharing information? That will be the subject of a webinar presented by the National Interoperability Collaborative (NIC) at noon Eastern on Friday Sept. 14, 2018. It’s titled “Getting to Yes on Privacy and Confidentiality” and will feature a panel of nationally recognized subject-matter experts. Learn more about the webinar, and register
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The Science of Social Work at USC

Predictive Risk Modelling (PRM) uses routinely collected administrative data to predict future adverse outcomes that might be prevented through a more strategic delivery of services. PRM has been used previously in health and hospital settings (Panattoni, Vaithianathan, Ashton, & Lewis, 2011; Billings, Blunt, Steventon, Georghiou, Lewis, & Bardsley, 2012) and has been suggested as a potentially useful tool that could be translated into child protection settings (Vaithianathan, Maloney, Putnam-Ho
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Government does not need to be a vending machine. For the last decade, I’ve been watching and participating in the civic technology movement. Civic tech enables relationships between the people and government via the delivery of digital services and exchange of information. It is exciting to see that there is more support than ever for increased citizen participation in government service delivery.
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