October 29, 2009 By Steve Towns, Editor
Federal Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra challenged state CIOs to work more innovatively and collaboratively -- and he ticked off a laundry list of issues where state IT professionals will play a key role in President Barack Obama's innovation strategy.
Speaking Wednesday, Oct. 28 at a meeting of the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) in Austin, Texas, Chopra said state and local technology executives should be involved in planning for health information exchanges, smart grids and broadband initiatives. They also should be helping to spur entrepreneurship and ensure that schools can continue to teach in the event of a flu pandemic.
"This is all about a new performance contract," he said. "The president has elevated technology and innovation into the fabric of how we run the government. We have extended an olive branch to state and local government. We want to collaborate."
Chopra urged CIOs to join the process of creating standards for emerging smart grid and electronic health records initiatives. He said the Health IT Standards Committee within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services planned to hold a public hearing on the subject Thursday, Oct. 29, and would continue seeking public input for two weeks through an online forum.
"We want to exchange data across all health-care actors, and it needs to be secure and frictionless. CIOs need to be involved in writing these standards," Chopra said. "Your health department is getting data from hospitals -- what standard do they use? What format do they get that data in? Is the list of doctors in your state in machine-readable format?
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