Maryland builds cross-department cloud for data sharing
Connecting state and local government leaders
The Human Services and Juvenile Services departments are moving data into an integrated, cloud-based data repository.
The Maryland Total Health and Human Services Network was initially envisioned as a platform to allow health and human services agencies to collaborate through a cloud-based data sharing portal. But since the program got funding in March, the scope of the initiative has focused on sharing information between Human Services and Juvenile Services departments.
“There is a lot of overlap with our kids in our child welfare program and those in the juvenile services program,” John Evans, deputy chief technology officer at MD THINK, told GCN after a panel at Sept. 27 Splunk user conference. “The way that the case management is done between the two departments is highly analogous, so we are essentially creating one platform that they can log into and use.”
Since the large cloud contract was approved by the Department of Human Services two weeks ago, work has begun to transfer data from both departments to the platform, but sharing will not occur until the attorney general or legal counsel approves.
Through Cloudera’s role-based access capabilities, MD THINK will allow employees to view only data that specific to their needs. The goal is to be able to share information among various agency silos, but put it into through a “highly segregated” platform with security controls to limit the amount of sharing of unnecessary details.
The platform was initially conceived to include health benefits data from the Department of Health as well, but the work has been scaled back to the two agencies with similar datasets.
“We don’t want to start with much complexity in the program, but we want to have the ability to create additional opportunities once agreements are made with other agencies,” Evans said.
One opportunity for more collaboration could evolve into determining the “total cost of a person” based on data from state and federal agencies. “Through creating a shared data depository, we can make sure information is shared on common platform, where we can start making these kinds of connections,” he said.