ADRC 2007 National Meeting Future Trends in Information Technology July 13, 2007 Gary Chapman LBJ School of Public Affairs University of Texas at Austin

ADRC Information Technology workshop All organizations are facing a new environment Rapidly changing technology and capabilities Everything depends on connectivity Growing need to share information The “blurring” of organizational boundaries Doing more at the same or less cost Ensuring privacy and security for networked data Human services are increasingly consumer-driven

ADRC Information Technology workshop What’s important in the near term? Network speeds are going up High-speed Internet becoming ubiquitous Data sharing and collaboration Open standards Electronic health records

ADRC Information Technology workshop Network speeds going up: broadband Conventional DSL/Cable Enhanced DSL/Cable AT&T’s U-Verse Very High Speed Cable Verizon FIOS Millions of bits per second

ADRC Information Technology workshop Faster Internet changes content and capabilities Video Voice-over-IP Video conferencing and video chat Online training, “webinars” Real-time collaboration Online applications and data access

ADRC Information Technology workshop An example of online applications: Google Docs

ADRC Information Technology workshop Broadband gets ubiquitous: wireless More and more wireless “hot spots” Many cities now investing in municipal wireless Wireless offices change how people work Wireless helps people and data be mobile A new generation of wireless handhelds Cheap GPS will help locate people and things

ADRC Information Technology workshop Data-sharing and collaboration A gradual end to “data silos” Organizations can benefit by figuring out how to share data, and doing so routinely Consumers can benefit by minimizing duplication New and helpful information can be revealed A blend of data and capabilities online gives us more robust “one-stop shopping” and portals

ADRC Information Technology workshop Data-sharing and collaboration: federated data “Federated” systems help blend data sources without affecting the underlying systems Federated systems used increasingly by government, human services, RHIOs Federated Application Diverse data sources Participants see blended, federated data on a permissions basis

ADRC Information Technology workshop A federated example: Dallas jail diversion program Jail-diversion instant messaging (JDIM) Public-private partnership between Dallas County and private service providers Cuts time for mentally ill citizens in jail to be returned to care from days to hours “Unprecedented workflow efficiencies are achieved as systems of people and data interact across organizational boundaries.”

ADRC Information Technology workshop Open Standards: a key to data-sharing Trend away from proprietary data standards to open standards, particularly XML XML stands for “Extensible Markup Language” XML makes data more flexible, more malleable, easier to share Standards for new electronic health records are XML-based, such as Health Level 7, or HL7

ADRC Information Technology workshop Electronic Health Records Goals for EHRs include cost savings, interoper- ability, sharing, protection of consumers, and portability, among others Questions over who will pay for EHRs PHRs: Personal Health Records Privacy is a concern many feel not yet adequately addressed

ADRC Information Technology workshop New IT trends reshape organizations No more isolated silos of information Consumer-driven Blurring of boundaries Collaboration and coalitions Distributed teams Mobility

Further detail in the Lewin Group paper: “Moving Forward: Opportunities for Information Technology Advances in the Aging Network” by Gary Chapman and Carrie Blakeway

Gary Chapman Senior Lecturer LBJ School of Public Affairs University of Texas at Austin