CTO Shares Lessons Learned From Freeing HHS Data

The Health and Human Services Department has been “freeing” massive amounts of its data and pushing it to developers and the public on the Web for the last two years with good results, HHS Chief Technology Officer Todd Park said at a new media conference Thursday. He said consumers now have access to dozens of new Web and mobile applications that use HHS data. Most of the applications are available for free, created by private sector developers and volunteers at no cost to HHS or the public.

For example, consumers can look on Bing.com search results for nearby hospitals to see their patient satisfaction ratings, or accessiTriageHealth.com on the Web to get a list of nearby health clinics.
By releasing the data, HHS set innovation in motion, helping to spur job creation and benefits for consumers, Park said at the General Services Administration’s Government Web and New Media Conference.

HHS’ role was to publish data it already owned on the Web — which cost “less than HHS’ coffee budget” — and to make people aware of the opportunity, and the rest happened through a ripple effect of volunteer developers and entrepreneurs, he said.