Stanford Social Innovation Review Podcast

Two megatrends are locking in: Massive incentive change and information liberation, says Todd Park, CTO of the US Department of Health and Human Services. The federal programs must lead the way in changing from fee-for-service to incentives for value in healthcare. Medicare, Medicaid, and the Veteran’s Administration represent the largest repository of public health data in the world. More information about the public health, stripped of personal identification, is being made available so that innovators can use it to learn more about public health, and create health-maximizing options. Private insurers adopt the same pay structure as the federal programs, therefore, HHS must be the one to initiate more efficient means of delivering, and charging for, health value. Park identifies three parts to data liberation in the health care industry: 1) Patient data liquidity—including making records available to the patients themselves; 2) market transparency—listing benefits and pricing of every public and private ins