The organization locus for HHS leadership of this effort is the HHS Data Council. The Data Council consists of all HHS Assistant Secretaries and Agency Administrators who have a direct reporting relationship to the Secretary, a privacy advocate appointed by the Secretary, plus the Secretary's Senior Advisor on Health Statistics. As noted above, our outreach efforts indicate a need for a high-level mandate for collaboration on data standards issues from the participating agencies. While the Vice President's charge to HHS provides the beginnings of such a mandate, active participation by senior officials in each agency is needed to make that mandate real. These meetings can also authorize ad hoc and standing interdepartmental working groups as may be needed to address particular issues.
Any agency can call for such a meeting.
While the interagency staff work will provide an important vehicle for this communication, our outreach efforts indicate that senior-level communication is also important. The Data Council will send regular newsletters, informing other agencies of events, progress, and issues. Any Department or working group can contribute to the newsletter. EDI issues is urgently needed. This letter was provided to NIST staff last fall, to solicit their support and comments.