Office of the CTO

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Welcome to the Office of the Chief Technology Officer. We test and validate solutions to solve challenging problems in the delivery of health and human services. Located in the Immediate Office of the Secretary, the Office of the CTO is also tasked with promoting innovation across the entire department.

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KidneyX: Redesign Dialysis

KidneyX is a public-private partnership between the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the American Society of Nephrology to accelerate innovation in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of kidney diseases.

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The Data Initiative

This effort is creating a fundamentally data-driven HHS.

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Data Science CoLab

Learn the skills needed to analyze data and make an impact on health.

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Get Involved

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HHS Ignite Accelerator

Learn about our internal innovation startup program for staff to improve the way their program or agency works.

Learn more about Ignite

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Learn About Strategic Partnerships

Learn about our cutting-edge public-private partnerships: a cornerstone of innovation in government.

Learn more about partnerships

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Open Innovation Resources

Resources for Department staff interested in hosting challenges, code-a-thons and accelerators.

Learn more about open innovation

Latest Blog Posts

Indian Health Service IT Modernization: Using Human-Centered Design to Improve Government Systems

Read more about Indian Health Service IT Modernization

April 9, 2019

By: Maia Laing

Team members explore how human-centered design principles impact the Indian Health Service health IT modernization effort.

Tagged: Open Innovation

Deep Dive on “TOP Health”: Data + Technology + Innovation for Lyme Disease

Read more about Deep Dive on “TOP Health”: Data + Technology+ Innovation for Lyme

March 19, 2019

By: Kristen Honey, Innovator in Residence, HHS Office of the Chief Technology Officer and Gil Alterovitz, Research Affiliate, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and Ed Simcox, HHS Chief Technology Officer

After a 14-week “TOP Health” technology sprint, four of 11 teams delivered digital tools that utilized federal open data or artificial intelligence (AI) to address Lyme and tick-borne diseases. These teams’ results were showcased over two days of events at the White House Eisenhower Executive Office Building and at the Census Bureau as part of “The Opportunity Project” (TOP) Demo Day 2019.

Tagged: Open Innovation

Meet the new HHS Ignite Accelerator Program Director

March 11, 2019

By: Margeaux Akazawa, HHS Ignite Accelerator Program Director and Elizabeth Squire

Margeaux Akazawa joined the Office of the CTO team to lead the Ignite Accelerator Program, an internal innovation accelerator for HHS staff that have an idea to improve how their agency or office works. The 8th round of the Ignite Program begins on March 12th. Margeaux joins us from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT where she worked on consumer engagement and patient access to health information.

Tagged: Open Innovation