[open-government] Open Data is Good for America

Tue Jun 4 14:36:35 UTC 2013

Interesting article by U.S. Chief Information Officer Steven VanRoekel:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steven-vanroekel/open-data-is-good-for-ame_b_3354451.html

*"In today's information age, most of us wouldn't dream of buying a TV or
washing machine without comparison shopping. But when it comes to
healthcare decisions -- one of the most important and most expensive
choices with which we are faced -- pricing data are usually not even
available.
That's changing. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recently
released a new dataset that for the first time shows what hospitals charge
for inpatient services associated with the 100 most common kinds of
hospital stays. The data have revealed huge variations in hospital charges
across the country and even within metro areas. (...)*
*The demand for this kind of information is real. Within 24 hours of the
hospital charge information being made public, it was downloaded over
100,000 times.
Entrepreneurs are taking these data and using them to power
consumer-friendly applications that will help people throughout the country
make the healthcare decisions that work best for them. Researchers,
analysts, and journalists are combing through these data and bringing new
insight as to why this kind of charge variation is happening. Through these
and other data -such as hospital quality metrics -- the healthcare
marketplace is becoming more transparent, which will benefit all Americans."
*

-- 

Christian Villum

Community Manager, Open Government Data + Local Groups Network
skype: christianvillum  |  @villum <http://www.twitter.com/villum>
The Open Knowledge Foundation <http://okfn.org/>
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