The Open Data Era in Health and Social Care

NHS England and The GovLab at New York University have created a blueprint, entitled The Open Data Era in Health and Social Care, to accelerate the use of open data in healthcare settings.

The blueprint suggests ways to enable a conversation about how the health and care system can maximise the impact of sharing open data through establishing priorities and clear ways of measuring benefits.

The blueprint suggests a framework to review the potential for open data in:

• Holding healthcare organisations and providers accountable for treatment outcomes;
• Enabling patients to make informed choices from among the healthcare options available to them;
• Improving the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of delivering healthcare;
• Improving treatment outcomes;
• Educating patients and their families and make healthcare institutions more responsive; and
• Fueling new healthcare companies and innovation.

For all the recognition of open data’s potential, there is a need for more research and actionable evidence to help guide investments and priorities. This blueprint represents a framework for a conversation on how NHS England can develop an evidence-based program to guide the investments and further research into the benefits of open data.

Among the specific issues that the blueprint may inform are:

• What kinds of evidence can we gather to help measure the impact of open data?
• What methodologies are most effective at gathering actionable evidence?
• How can we use evidence to differentiate and prioritize among various open data initiatives?
• What steps are required to create an environment within which data is used to constantly generate and refresh information and learning?

The goal of this new blueprint is to help design long-lasting and truly valuable programs.

To download the blueprint visit http://images.thegovlab.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/nhs-full-report.pdf.