HHS CDO’s New Data Plan Backs ‘Open by Default’ Government

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)’s new data plan is a modular approach incorporating real-time feedback to advance an “open by default” government, Chief Data Officer Kristen Honey told GovCIO Media & Research.

“Open by default is a power shift, and we’re going away from a top down, hierarchical one way flow of information,” said Honey. “Data is important and radical transparency is important, and open data is both data and transparency driven.”

The agency’s new Living Open Data Plan unveiled last month alongside a refreshed healthdata.gov website provides a singular shared resource for over 10,000 public health data assets and the first version of its metadata standards.

The plan also pushes for a living, public data repository that prioritizes feedback loops.

“We can use that captive audience who cares so much about open data, so much about turning the data into understanding and insights to make better policy and inform action,” said Honey, who added that the agency wants feedback from the public on how to further improve data quality and determine which data sets to prioritize. That feedback will contribute to its first update in November.

The Path to Open Data

The data plan is the latest effort as part of a broader “Open Government Initiative” launched under GSA in 2023 and as far back as 2010 at HHS to ensure public servants are held accountable to taxpayers and empower citizens to actively engage with the government.

Open data and open software are not new priorities at HHS. Leadership has long focused on making data more readily available to the broader health care community. Public health data often fuels scientific breakthroughs and informs emerging technologies like artificial intelligence.

Public population health data paired with private industry technology, for example, could lead to further development of telemedicine innovations that extend health care services to underserved rural communities.

For leaders like Honey, democratizing data is critical to fostering “radical transparency” and providing a foundation for future data governance models.

“The push for radical transparency has put a lot of new wind in the sails for open data,” Honey said. “One thing I would like to do … at HHS is pull back the curtain and show people how we work.”

Honey noted the need to shift the culture from the bottom up, she said, adding that federal CDOs should empower frontline employees while also strengthening government services as a whole.

“We are at this cusp at HHS, where I think we have an opportunity to do something like breaking down those siloes … so you can see the holistic impacts across society that hasn’t been done before,” she said.

Moving forward, Honey noted she is looking to leverage AI and other emerging technologies to support search functions and further enhance the data hub.

“The more high tech we become with data and AI and emerging technologies, the more high touch we should be,” said Honey. “[Open data efforts are] not scalable if the process is all manual, and that’s where the power of AI will really help us to improve it with every iteration.”