CONNECT Code-A-Thon
Sponsored by CONNECT, the Nationwide Health Information Network, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
You’re invited to the upcoming CONNECT Code-A-Thon, to work with other health IT leaders, contribute to the CONNECT solution, and advance the nation's health IT agenda.
In addition to holding technical/coding sessions, this CONNECT Code-A-Thon will include a couple of new items:
- A business track for people new to CONNECT that need to learn more about what the open source software project is and how it can benefit them
- Working with the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, the CONNECT team will construct innovation challenges for the event, providing attendees with the opportunity to address and tackle issues directly relevant to nationwide health IT interoperability.
Participants will have the opportunity to contribute to the CONNECT project through bug fixes, code contributions, improved documentation, and other innovations. We will be listing topics on the forums and we encourage discussions prior to the Code-A-Thon so we can get straight to the business of development during the event.
What is CONNECT?
CONNECT is an open source software solution that supports health information exchange — both locally and at the national level. CONNECT uses Nationwide Health Information Network standards and governance to make sure that health information exchanges are compatible with other exchanges being set up throughout the country.
This software solution was initially developed by federal agencies to support their health-related missions, but it is now available to all organizations and can be used to help set up health information exchanges and share data using nationally-recognized interoperability standards.
CONNECT can be used to:
- Set up a health information exchange within an organization
- Tie a health information exchange into a regional network of health information exchanges
By advancing the adoption of interoperable health IT systems and health information exchanges, the country will better be able to achieve the goal of making sure all citizens have electronic health records by 2014. Health data will be able to follow a patient across the street or across the country.
What is a CONNECT Code-A-Thon?
At CONNECT Code-A-Thons, programmers convene to work together on projects related to CONNECT. A Code-A-Thon is a form of hackathon, held quarterly at different locations throughout the country.
Code-A-Thons typically last two days and include short plenary sessions where experts provide detail about their experiences in the open source community, and program personnel provide insight into the current and future architecture of the solutions. This is followed by hands-on programming where attendees break up into groups and work on projects they are interested in. People work on what they want to with little to no restrictions on direction or goal of the programming.
CONNECT Code-A-Thons are attended by professionals and students, representing federal and state agencies, healthcare providers, insurance companies, health information exchanges, cities, universities, and health IT vendors, among other health stakeholders.
