283355
A digital government: Creating a unified, multipurpose content repository to meet growing demand for digital health information and services
Tuesday, November 5, 2013
: 5:10 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.
Health agencies must devise creative solutions to reduce operational costs, while meeting increased demand for information and services resulting from health reform. In 2012, IQ Solutions was tasked with helping the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) devise a strategy for expanding access to its behavioral health content while reducing the overall cost of dissemination. According to SAMHSA, nearly 46 million Americans were living with a mental illness in 2011; about one-fifth to one-third of the nation's uninsured have mental and substance use disorders. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act's mental health access and parity provisions will improve health equity by integrating mental health and primary care. When combined with the forthcoming national dialog on mental health, SAMHSA can expect a significant increase in the demand for its content. Relying solely on traditional physical dissemination of paper products limits reach, increases costs, and reduces timeliness of delivery. In addition, the rapid expansion of social media and mobile technologies has raised consumers' expectation of immediate access to shareable information. In line with the White House Digital Government Strategy, IQ Solutions developed an XML based digital repository that makes SAMHSA's content available where its audiences are growing: on partner websites, in social media, and on mobile devices. Publications are stored in a centralized location and in a standardized format, with application programming interfaces (APIs) that allow content to be accessed on any device, repurposed for different formats, and shared via numerous channels. Key benefits include allowing SAMHSA to devote scarce resources to the development of content rather than products and increasing the availability of content in digital formats to improve SAMHSA's reach. This presentation will share lessons learned through the development of the content repository and outline best practices for digital information sharing.
Learning Areas:
Communication and informatics
Other professions or practice related to public health
Learning Objectives:
Explain the benefit of separating content development from product development
Compare traditional methods of disseminating health information with new approaches that eliminate silos and expand reach
Describe the new digital channels that can be more easily utilized when content is structured in XML
Discuss the cost savings that can be achieved when government builds upon existing accomplishments rather than starting from scratch
Keyword(s): Publication, Information Systems
Presenting author's disclosure statement:Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: In my role as a Vice President at IQ Solutions, I lead systems and application development activities for clients across the organization. I was the task lead and project manager responsible for planning and leading the implementation of the content repository described in this abstract, and I continue to manage activities related to its ongoing use and maintenance.
Any relevant financial relationships? No
I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines,
and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed
in my presentation.
