Objectives: (1) Describe the evolution of Health Information Exchanges (HIEs) into Health Data Utilities (HDUs); (2) Provide motivation for HDUs as a public strategic investment target.
Materials and methods: We examine trends in developing HIEs into HDUs and compare their criticality to that of the national highway system as an investment in the public good.
Results: We propose that investment in HDUs is essential for our nation's healthcare data ecosystem. This investment will address the increased need for healthcare delivery and public health data.
Discussion: HDUs can meet the current and future needs of healthcare delivery and public health surveillance. Their structure and capabilities will underpin their success to support data-driven decision-making.
Conclusion: Transforming HIEs into HDUs is essential to realizing the vision of a distributed and connected healthcare data system. Public funding is critical for this model's success, similar to the continued investment in the national highway system.
Keywords: health information exchange; healthcare; privacy; public health surveillance; social determinants of health.
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