HHS has opened a web portal allowing access to health data as a resource for developers of innovative health information technologies.

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in a news release that the Health Indicators Warehouse “provides a new public resource needed to fuel development of innovative information technology applications” that will improve healthcare. In the same statement, HHS Chief Technology Officer Todd Park said, “We recognize that one of the keys to better health and health care is data-driven decision-making at all levels and the HHS warehouse lowers the barrier for development of technologies to achieve this goal.”

At present, the warehouse contains nearly 1,200 health indicators obtained from 170 data sources; including disease prevalence; health risk factors; life expectancy and morality; healthcare accessibility; quality and cost that are available by geographic area or political jurisdiction.

HHS expects to provide “additional activities and projects to promote innovative uses of data and apps development to improve health and healthcare performance at the community level,” the statement said.