Author: Greg Bloom
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The Community Information Exchange Task Force Report from Michigan’s Dept of Health and Human Services
I’ve had the honor and privilege of working with the Michigan Community Information Exchange Task Force over the past year. I encourage you to read the report, which is published here. You can also watch this webinar summarizing the report with commentary from a range of task force members. In my (admittedly biased) opinion, this…
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HSDS is now interoperable with FHIR®
As integration of healthcare and social care sectors becomes an ever-hotter topic, we’re excited to announce that we’ve taken a small but significant step forward: the Human Service Data Specifications are now aligned with the protocols for healthcare provider directory information specified by the Health Level Seven (HL7®) Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR®). Continue reading…
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Introducing Profiles: customize our standard for your domain!
We designed the Human Service Data Specifications (HSDS)to make it easy to share information about human services of any kind. But given the many nuanced differences across human service sectors – and states and countries and etc – it’s just not feasible to standardize every possible kind of information associated with any kind of service anywhere.…
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Just Released: Toolkit for information exchange initiatives from the Office of the National Coordinator of Health IT at HHS
I’m excited to share with you this toolkit for information exchange initiatives that aim to address the social determinants of health – shared by the Office of the National Coordination for Health Information Technology at the US Department of Health and Human Services (known as ONC). The toolkit (PDF downloadable here) synthesizes subject matter expertise…
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Our 2022 Year in Review
Our 2022 Year in Review report is now available to review! This annual practice of review and reflection is an opportunity for us to step back and assess our progress across multiple objectives as we work towards our shared goal: a future in which it’s easy to share, find, and use information about the resources…
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Upgrading the Human Service Data Specifications: 2022 development cycle underway
As Open Referral’s network grows – involving more stakeholders in the development of interoperable resource directory information supply chains – our tools and practices must evolve in kind to support more complex needs. So we are excited to share that Open Referral has initiated a new development cycle to upgrade the Human Service Data Specifications.…
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Progress Report 2021-22: Highlights from our Network
I’m excited to share Open Referral’s Progress Report for 2021-2022. You can download the report as a PDF here, and view the document online here. (All of our reports are accessible here.) Unlike our usual Year in Review, this report really describes activity across a period of 18 months overall. This is 6 months later…
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Tackling Data Dilemmas in Social Care Coordination: A Whitepaper on Community Information Exchange
Last year – with sponsorship from Robert Wood Johnson Foundations’ DASH program, and in partnership with the Regional Data Alliance at University of Missouri St Louis – I co-authored a whitepaper that aggregated research and recommendations from across the emerging field of “social care coordination.” This paper provides a strategic framework in which to understand…
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Improving access to legal aid by improving search results with schema.org
Despite the vast amounts of information on the Web, finding reliable information about legal services through internet searches is harder than many expect. Basic searches — for needs like assistance with evictions, help with public benefits, or protection from domestic violence — often turn bewildering as results on Google, among other search engines, typically seem…