When we launched the NIC Collaboration Hub almost exactly a year ago, we felt certain that this would be a valuable – even unique – tool to advance interoperability and information-sharing across the multiple domains that affect everyone’s health and well-being. Nevertheless, we had one gnawing concern: If we build it, will busy professionals around the country really come to use it?
Today, I’m delighted to report that the answer is “yes.” So I’m writing this blog to express the gratitude of all of us at the National Interoperability Collaborative to all of you who are not only participating in various ways on the Hub, but are also demonstrating that it’s of genuine benefit.
Here are just some of the numbers that indicate we’re on the right track:
- The Hub now has over 800 members and is growing almost daily. These range from individual professionals working in the six domains in which NIC primarily operates to major regional and national organizations such as HIMSS, NACCHO, ASTHO, NESCSO and the Sequoia Project.
- Hub members have shared about 900 resources, with more being posted every week. Cumulatively, they offer a single destination where you can obtain relevant research and other important knowledge, share and gain relevant knowledge, and conceive and inform initiatives.
- The Hub has had over 81,000 page views from more than 12,000 visits, with an 86 percent engagement rate during the past year. During the same period, NIC has held a series of webinars and group calls with a unique aspect – participant discussion and collaboration on the Hub itself.
- And the activity we’re probably most proud of (so far), is the active engagement we’ve gotten in the eight affinity groups on the Hub; hundreds of professionals from governments at all levels, industry, nonprofits and academia have signed up for and participated to date.
Stewards of Change Institute conceived the Hub for the same reasons that we created the broader NIC “community of networks” about a year earlier. That is, to provide the online (Hub) and on-the-ground (NIC) means for thought leaders, policy-makers, practitioners and other professionals to share information and work together for tangible, systemic progress in ways they hadn’t done before. That goes for advances within their own organizations and fields and, most critically, across the varied domains/disciplines that need to routinely communicate in order to make sustainable, enduring improvements in the health and well-being of everyone in our country, especially those among us who are most underserved.
If you haven’t signed up to the Hub yet, we invite you to do so. Join one or more of the groups, contribute to or utilize the Hub resources, and start or engage in one of the conversations. Most importantly, let us know what’s working and what recommendations you may have about how we can make the Hub even more engaging and genuinely useful. Remember: It’s only one year old, so we’re making ongoing improvements based on the feedback we receive. Share your feedback!
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!
SOCI President and NIC Principal Investigator
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