AFCEA Health IT Summit 2024: HHS Data Strategy; Data Sharing and AI Take Center Stage
At the recent AFCEA Health IT Summit 2024, the Department of Health U.S. Department of Health and Human Services took center stage with the official launch of its Data Strategy, which seeks to advance its management and use of data to improve human health outcomes.
As the name of the strategy implies, data is foundational for driving innovation and improving outcomes in health and human services – with advanced data infrastructure and generative AI being the priority.
Chirag Shah and Jessica Price of the MakNuAx team attended the AFCEA Health IT Summit 2024, and came back with many takeaways about the new HHS Data strategy, as well as other key topic discussions from the event.
For example, during the generative AI panel, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) executives discussed how the agency is considering using “model cards” about the generative AI models it deploys. These model cards will contain information about what’s in a model and how it’s made, which will be deployed alongside its use of generative AI tools.
Data sharing and data interoperability were also significant topics. For example, executives from National Institutes of Health (NIH) discussed how sharing meaningful data in a standardized format in the collection of foundational, discovery, clinical and other types of research. In addition, NIH was an early adopter of the Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) for leveraging data for best understanding the underlying pathology of COVID infections.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will also be publishing a paper about how to develop and deploy AI in the workplace. Last fall, the FDA sought industry feedback for its upcoming Data and Technology Strategic Plan, which outlines the agency’s goals to leverage AI in its analytical processes.
ARPA-H, the research agency that supports biomedical and health breakthroughs within NIH, will also be exploring the use of generative AI for making data within health records more cohesive, as well as to support predictive medicine. This aligns with the ARPA-H 2024-2026 Strategic Plan, which aims to use generative AI to acquire data from EHRs, diagnostic records, images and Internet of Things (IoT) data.
Jessica also serves on the AFCEA Bethesda Emerging Leaders board, and she played a role in planning the FDA panel, as well as securing speakers for other FDA speaking slots. Overall, the highest attendance was over 1,000+ attendees, which reinforces the importance around the topic of enhancing data usage at HHS.
Based on all of the topics discussed at the AFCEA Health IT Summit 2024, it is clear that data is a key priority for HHS.
By fully embracing generative AI and new ways to enhance the sharing of structured and unstructured data, HSS is leading the way when it comes to making data the foundation for driving better outcomes in health and human services.
As an SBA-approved joint venture between SBA mentor-protégé firms NuAxis and Makpar, MakNuAx has more than 30 years of combined experience in delivering the future of Federal IT for advancing the use of data for better mission outcomes.