By Andy Smith (@andysmithpalio)

There’s a treasure trove of high-value health information in government archives that can aid in the delivery of health care. Now, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Institute of Medicine (IOM) are joining forces to make this data available to the public and encourage innovative uses of it to help patients and health care providers.

By putting this wealth of data into the hands of patients and health care professionals, new insights, applications, products and services can be developed to increase health care education, influence behaviors and improve performance of the health system. Learn more about how increasing access to health information can benefit patients and providers at the unNiched(micro) Breakfast HHS/IOM Health Data-palooza Satellite Event, June 9, 2011 beginning at 7:45 a.m. ET.

Through this initiative, data will be easily accessible and provided to the public free of charge to facilitate growth and development of the health care eco system. It will include a range of information including national, state, regional and potentially county-level prevalence of disease, quality, and cost as well as evidence-based programs and policies that have improved performance across many of these measures. Technologists, business, academia and public health professionals can then use the data to compare performance, share best practices and uncover new modes of treatment and services to improve health performance such as developing online games that educate individuals about community health or by tracking local issues.

The culmination of health data and technology are critical components of any effort to educate and persuade providers and patients to improve behaviors and health care outcomes. To learn more about the Government 2.0 movement to unleash health data and make it publicly available, participate in this complimentary satellite unNiched (micro) breakfast event where attendees can:

• View a portion of Health Data Initiative Forum proceedings remotely
• Network with others interested in marrying health data and technology to improve communication, outcomes and spark behavior change in patients and health providers
• Hear executives from HHS and other organizations discuss the implications of the Forum for innovation, outcomes and health communications

By increasing the availability of data, patients and professionals can explore and analyze data and gain the necessary insight to move from awareness to action. Pixels and Pills will be live-streaming the breakfast and the exciting discussions that take place at the event. We hope you’ll join us!

Date: Thursday, June 9, 2011
Location: CUNY Graduate Center, New York, NY
Website: http://www.unniched.com
Agenda: http://unniched.com/unnichedmicro-hhsiom-health-data-palooza-satellite-event
Registration: http://healthdataunniched.eventbrite.com

Steve Krein and Unity Stoakes of Organized Wisdom talk to Marc Monseau about inspiration at SXSW. Unity enjoyed hearing from Todd Park on how our government is using data to revolutionize healthcare, while Steve has reaffirmed his belief in entrepreneurs developing life-saving tools.

By Russ Ward (@russcward)

The most recent McKinsey Quarterly offered a report called “The Road to Positive R&D Returns.” Essentially, it said that traditional small molecules are no longer a viable business plan for pharma companies, and that they can’t hang their hats on biologics either, because they’re running into many the same issues with development vagaries and generic competition.

What they should do instead, the report offered: work cheaper and faster. Well… yeah. A slightly anticlimactic conclusion, no? (Although it is a good article.) But is it possible to get at least a little more specific?

R&D often includes in-licensing, out-licensing and other types of deal-making. It’s not really a question of not being able to get the information to make a good decision to be successful at licensing and acquisition; it’s more about the intake and synthesis and processing of all that information.

• Is there a pharma L&A network for the executives, lawyers, researchers and analysts involved in this field? You should be building one. Gather them up, get them together, get them sharing best practices. The challenge is to do that with the knowledge that they’re all in an ongoing sprint to the next great deal – but it’s possible to learn from each other while still competing with each other.
• How mobile is the access to all of this information? To borrow the tagline, is there an app for that? If not, why aren’t you working on one?
• Take a look at all of the research analysis services and products – and then talk to the people who use them. What’s on their wish list? What’s the killer app for L&A – and why haven’t you made it yet?

But R&D is, of course, fundamentally about research and development – scientists in labs. What are the opportunities there?

• Have you ever spent a day in a research lab? You probably haven’t, and moreover, your clients probably haven’t, either. Do some networking, make some connections, sign some NDA’s, and see where the magic really happens. Speak to the men and women who spend their careers doing miraculous things. Find out what has changed the most in their careers, what now takes half the time it used to, and what still slows them down. You’ll probably be surprised how similar to a clinically practicing physician these problems are. Paperwork, paperwork, paperwork.
• Go to where scientific passion intersects with an inborn use of technology – youth. Visit students. They may very well be rigging up technology-enabled solutions to help them through school that their professors and role models would benefit from.

How can your creative development meet the needs of R&D?