Human Services Overwhelmed by interest in the Inaugural "Code-A-Thon” - Update

This is a good thing as there is big interest in writing the “open source” code to allow other government agencies and outside industry connect to the Nationwide Health Information Network. The other day I spoke about a Department of Algorithms, and this could be just the area whereby a Healthcare Department of Algorithms could fit. If industry is going to connect to use and provide data to a national health it system, we are going to want audit trails and have the capability to check the accuracy of the transactions that take place. This is one spot where proprietary code may not fit and transparency is needed to allow keeping costs of healthcare accurately reported and analyzed, without the middle ware folks taking a chunk when it is not necessary.

Are We Ever Going to Get Some Algorithm Centric Laws Passed for Healthcare!

The registration was closed after 130 people registered. BD

HHS Sponsoring a “Code-A-Thon” to improve the CONNECT Gateway – Health Information Exchange

The Department of Health and Human Services was so overwhelmed by interest in the inaugural "Code-A-Thon" for its open source Connect health information gateway on Thursday that event organizers had to close registration for lack of room.

Organizers originally expected only 50 developers would show up at the D.C. event aimed at growing the community that will work to extend the Connect system, but had to close registration after about 130 people registered within the first three days. The next event will likely make room for more coders.

Connect is a software suite that lets industry and federal agencies connect their health IT systems to the Nationwide Health Information Network, which is currently under development as a centerpiece of the Obama administration's heath IT initiative. It includes a gateway, an enterprise service component and a client framework for development of end-user applications.