Public Health Data Consortium Launched in US
The Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) has partnered with Veritas Data Research and HealthVerity to create a new public health data consortium. The initiative is described as the first of its kind, aiming to bring together disparate data sources to improve public health insights and responses across state and territorial agencies.
- The consortium's initial focus will be on improving the quality and accessibility of mortality data, a critical dataset for a wide range of public health applications. State and territorial health agencies will contribute their data and, in return, gain access to combined national real-world data to enhance their public health efforts. - HealthVerity, led by CEO Andrew Kress, will apply its expertise in identity resolution and data privacy to address the challenge of linking disparate patient data while respecting privacy. The company's technology de-identifies patient records and assigns a universal identifier, the HealthVerity ID (HVID), to enable data synchronization across different sources. - Veritas Data Research, led by CEO Jason LaBonte, specializes in high-quality mortality and provider affiliation datasets and will provide the platform for data ingestion and delivery. The company's mortality dataset includes records on 185 million deaths, covering over 90% of all deaths in the U.S. since 2010. - This public-private partnership is designed to overcome long-standing hurdles in the U.S. public health data infrastructure, which have been highlighted by challenges in tracking public health crises and were a focus for improvement by the Office of Science and Technology Policy. - The governance of the consortium will be in the hands of public health officials through ASTHO, ensuring that its mission remains aligned with public health goals. ASTHO's CEO is Joseph Kanter, MD, MPH, and its Senior Vice President of Population and Innovation is Jen Layden, MD, PhD, a former CDC and state public health leader. - The initiative aims to create a sustainable model that leverages private sector capabilities to close data gaps that have traditionally hindered public health response and research. - ASTHO is establishing an advisory network to allow other organizations to stay informed and provide guidance as the consortium evolves.
