Jamie Bennet
Srini Iyer, chief technology officer of Leidos’ health group, said he believes having an overall data strategy is essential to promote health equity and improve health outcomes.
In an interview on Forum’s Keeping IT Brief podcast, Iyer discusses the challenges in health data management that justify why public and private health organizations should have comprehensive data and digital transformation strategies.
He noted that during the pandemic, local and federal government agencies were exchanging data that was siloed and done through manual or physical means.
Leidos, in particular, experienced receiving information that was from non-interoperable systems and needed additional categorization. Information sharing was not automated, and some of the terms being used among health care providers had no standard definition, Iyer explained.
Data strategy and modernization initiatives are very important because they reduce operational risk, provide rapid access to critical data, increase information security, and align agencies and health partners to reduce or eliminate delays, the CTO elaborated.
Iyer added the new public health initiatives could promote data sharing across by transforming information from a data push model to a data flow model, he said. There will be increased ability for state, territorial, and local agencies to automatically exchange information with CDC and other federal entities.
