Federal Health IT Newsletter - Feb. 13
Leveraging Data, Tech to Improve Health Outcomes
Federal health leaders are progressing data initiatives and tech modernization to improve patient care as the Senate reviews President Donald Trump’s proposed cabinet members.
While the Department of Health and Human Services awaits its secretary confirmation, the Department of Veterans Affairs welcomed Doug Collins to lead key veteran health initiatives like modernizing the agency’s electronic health record and reducing veteran suicide.
Improving Health Outcomes with Data
The National Institutes of Health, along with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, ?are boosting data accessibility and improving security.
“Open FDA is really about taking all the data that we collect through adverse events or submissions and making those available,” said FDA’s CDO Ram Iyer. “That has become a very popular platform. We've had over 800 almost a billion access points and people have downloaded data as well as we have made it easy by creating APIs rather than requesting the data and accessing it from us.”?
Next Steps in VA's EHR Modernization
Denis McDonough, former Veterans Affairs secretary, praised the agency's transition to the new administration before leaving his post, enabling new leadership to tackle key priorities like EHR modernization.
“My wish for our providers and for the VA system is that we not lose sight of the 'why,' said McDonough. "The ‘why’ is that veterans need an integrated, modernized electronic health record for better health outcomes and for better overall engagement with VA.”???
Leveraging Innovation to Reduce Veteran Suicide
The VA’s Mission Daybreak grant program is leveraging emerging technology and bolstering data analytics to better address and prevent veteran suicide.?
VA's Executive Director of Suicide Prevention Matthew Miller pointed to Mission Daybreak’s efforts to improve the Veterans Crisis Line through silent monitoring. When a veteran would show signs of mental health issues, that call would be flagged for further review by VA health professionals.?
“One way that we can augment some of that is by using AI, machine language and learning to do initial reviews of caller feedback and engagement and then screen for indications in need of further review,” Miller told GovCIO Media & Research.?
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