Open Health Data in the New Presidential Administration - Opportunities and Strategies for Success

President Barack Obama’s 2009 Open Data Directive catalyzed the development of federal, state, and municipal web-based platforms containing searchable government data available in multiple formats and with unlimited use and distribution rights. These platforms include the HealthData.gov federal data catalog, state platforms such as Health Data NY and the California Health and Human Services Open Data Portal, and numerous city-based initiatives. Data advocacy groups have noted the discontinuation of these efforts under the Trump administration and have tracked censorship and changes in content and access to federal data resources. The new Biden-Harris administration is encouraging for revival of open health data initiatives, given President Joseph Biden Jr’s history of supporting health data initiatives, including open sharing of cancer research data, Kamala Harris’s leadership on California’s OpenJustice open data initiative, and the new administration’s public pledge to “promote trust, transparency, common purpose, and accountability in our government.”

Open data’s implicit logic is that beyond improving government transparency, diverse users will leverage the data for new insights and applications to empower health care consumers and improve population health.1,2 Compelling use cases include the San Francisco Department of Health’s collaboration with Yelp on food safety data, New York’s interactive query tools to locate quality and safety information on health care providers and information on COVID-19–related school closures and positive test results, and Kansas City’s current collaborations with developers to connect residents with free sexual health resources. Despite the availability of open data platforms, their full value has not yet been realized. Many jurisdictions have not yet evolved from simply posting some data sets on websites toward an “Open Data 2.0” phase with robust open data platforms employing interactive user-friendly designs, extensive repositories of data in open formats, and intentional engagement of data users to encourage data use.1 While the Biden-Harris administration presents an opportunity for enhanced access to and use of government health data, history provides important lessons on challenges that must be addressed to enable the success of open data initiatives.