In October 2014, the California Health and Human Services Agency (CHHS) launched their new Open Data Portal. And it was a big deal: CHHS is the largest non-federal health agency in the country (and one of the larger health agencies in the world — with an annual budget of over 130 billion dollars). Needless to say, they manage an inordinate amount of valuable data.

At launch, the Portal offered 64 datasets and visualizations from two participating departments: the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) and the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (OSHPD).

Now, twelve months later, the Portal boasts nearly 300 datasets and visualizations from ten departments (only two CHHS departments to go!). Popular data resources involve family planning, poverty, births, chemical exposure, immunizations, and other topics of importance. And of course everyone still loves tracking popular baby names (spoiler alert: “Sophia” is still the #1 name for girls).

In addition to adding departments and data resources in 2016, CHHS will also be providing more general information about the Portal, e.g., recent updates, future data resources, example uses, user stories, and other fun stuff like that. Forum One will be assisting in this effort — so stay tuned!

The initiative continues to benefit from the support of senior leadership at CHHS. Several departments have been particularly active, including CDPH, OSHPD, and DHCS. The Portal is built on the Socrata platform and received initial support and strategic guidance from the California HealthCare Foundation.

We’re delighted to see further progress of the Portal. Keep it up, CHHS!