On Tuesday, U.S. Chief Technology Officer Todd Park spoke at an event in Maine about how providing patients and clinicians with access to health care data could help transform the health care system, the Bangor Daily News reports.
Park discussed HHS' efforts to make certain types of health data more accessible, such as personal health information, data on public health trends and clinical trial results.
He spoke about a Department of Veteran Affairs program that has allowed more than 750,000 veterans and active members of the military to download their personal health data through a secure website.
Park also discussed how entrepreneurs and innovators could leverage large volumes of health data to develop products and services that could improve health care.
He provided examples of such products, including an application called Asthmapolis -- which tracks asthma attacks via a GPS device on patients' inhalers -- and iTriage, a Web application that helps patients assess their symptoms and locate an appropriate health care provider (Farwell, Bangor Daily News, 4/3).