Making the Most of Data: Internal, External Partners at the Table in Indiana

Indiana’s Chief Data Officer Darshan Shah wants to get the most out of the state’s Management and Performance Hub (MPH), not only to make sure internal operations run as smoothly as possible, but also to see that Indiana’s wealth of information is being put to use for the people of the state. Shah talked to Government Technology at the NASCIO conference in Austin earlier this month. 

Key to that is partnerships with other departments within the state, as well as with external agencies. As an example, Shah points to work the MPH has done with Indiana’s Department of Education, Family and Social Services Administration, Commission for Higher Education, and Department of Workforce Development. The idea, Shah said, is to be able to pull together data from all those agencies and then partner with nonprofits like Goodwill Industries and the Indiana Youth Institute, that can then put the data to work for Indiana’s residents.

“If we can get this information in their hands,” Shah explained, “they can then take their initiatives forward, which collectively helps all of us within the state.”

Here, Shah discusses the state’s partnership with the Health Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) Indiana Chapter’s conference this Saturday, Oct. 21, and how the data they unlock there — 26 Medicaid claims data sets — will help the state progress as a whole.