Human Services Interoperability Innovations

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A second round of Human Services Interoperability Innovations (HSII) cooperative agreements is proposed to accelerate data sharing efforts by human services organizations through innovative approaches to interoperability implementation. Effective data sharing promotes informed decision making, improved accuracy and data quality, reduced system integration costs, and stronger protection of sensitive data. The ability to share data is often described as interoperability, which includes the technology, business, legal, organizational, and process-oriented factors that determine how we use data and collaborate across programs and systems. The cooperative agreements will have an 18-month project period. The first round of HSII grants from the 2020 funding opportunity announcement received a number of very strong applications and the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE) was not able to support all promising projects. The first round are developing products of value to the field like an open source, cloud based hashing solution to match and link records across disparate data systems. OPRE anticipates that the second round of grants will prove to be similarly successful and encourage innovation at the state and local level. Funding would support demonstration projects to identify effective and efficient data sharing solutions, and develop model practices for broader adoption. Specifically, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) is seeking to issue grant awards that meet the following criteria: 1. Addresses a high-priority, local data sharing or data integration need; 2. Proposes a new or novel implementation approach; 3. Contributes promising practices to the field and promotes replication of successful results; 4. Demonstrates implementation readiness and cost effectiveness; 5. Supports strong collaboration with OPRE and ACF; 6. Engages in productive partnerships across programs, agencies, and jurisdictions. Learn more about the ACF Interoperability Initiative at https://www.acf.hhs.gov/opre/research/project/acf-interoperability-initiative. Learn about previous Human Service Interoperability grant projects at https://www.acf.hhs.gov/opre/research/project/human-services-interoperability-innovations-hsii.

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