Todd Park @ Rock Health

We had a great time hosting Todd Park, Chief Technology Officer for the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services at one of our first Rock Health events at Harvard.

On Building a “Holy Cow Machine” for Healthcare

When Atul Gawande revealed in the New Yorker that McAllen, TX had not only the highest healthcare costs in the country but also the worst health outcomes, it was a “holy cow moment” for the country. Todd Park, co-founder of Athena Health and now Chief Technology Officer of the Department of Health and Human Services, has a vision of how health care data can be used to create a “holy cow machine” that will let us reduce health care costs and improve health outcomes in the same way that Walmart improves its inventory efficiency or Google improves ad targeting. He’ll talk about how aggregate data about health outcomes is unleashing a torrent of innovation, as we move from paying for volume of care to paying for the value of care in improving actual health outcomes.

Todd Park joined HHS as Chief Technology Officer in August 2009. In this role, he is responsible for helping HHS leadership harness the power of data, technology, and innovation to improve the health and welfare of the nation. Mr. Park co-founded Athenahealth in 1997 and co-led its development over the following decade into one of the most innovative, socially-oriented, and successful health information technology companies in the industry. Mr. Park graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Harvard College with an A.B. in economics.