Stewards of Change held its fifth annual conference From Field to Fed: Building an Interoperable Continuum of Care at the Yale School of Management from January 4th–6th, 2010. Thought leaders from across the country convened to discuss the most recent trends and innovations that are contributing to the development and implementation of interoperable service delivery solutions within human services, health, and education.

Cross-sector innovations at city, county and state levels, paired with new leadership at the federal level, offered a renewed sense of possibility. Significant new technology investments by the Obama administration are challenging the public and private sectors to improve interoperability across the service delivery continuum. It is an exciting and promising time to consider how truly connected health and human service systems can impact short and long-term outcomes for our most vulnerable populations and improve operational effectiveness. 

From Field to Fed showcases initiatives that are pursuing interoperable solutions to create consumer-centric, family-focused, technology-enabled service systems. Through presentations, discussions and case studies we explored advancements that span service silos and efforts to increase joint planning among federal, state, county, local and nonprofit agencies to create more efficient and effective service delivery models.  We explored federal initiatives driven by new funding for health and Medicaid (MITA) technology that support integrated planning efforts between health and human services.

Another area of focus at the 2010 conference was on strategies and practices for cross-sector information sharing. Privacy laws are critical factors that can enable or inhibit interoperability initiatives. However, there is a lack of confidence and consensus about how to increase information sharing to achieve interoperability given questions around the current legal framework. We presented emerging strategies and practices that may have provided the basis for greater information sharing through both interoperable technology and practice.

Additional details and articles from this annual Primer will be posted shortly to the SOC web site.