Use of health information technology to facilitate data exchange between private healthcare and public health: Two demonstration projects

To fully utilize health information technology (HIT), local health departments (LHDs) must engage and develop close collaboration with healthcare providers in designing and implementing systems for receiving and transmitting critical data. The need for this type of routine health information exchange is compelling: public health requires clinical data to improve early detection of public health threats and for intelligence to improve the overall health of the community; clinical healthcare can utilize public health data to improve quality of patient care through early and accurate disease diagnosis and treatment.

Regional health information organizations (RHIOs) are one model that can achieve this important exchange paradigm. RHIOs represent groups of organizations within a defined geographical area that have a common goal of structured, cost-effective and practical health information exchange. In 2009, the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) supported two LHDs to create linkages with existing RHIOs and develop data sharing agreements that could support various public health activities, particularly around communicable disease surveillance and preparedness. These demonstration sites can serve as models for other LHDs as well as provide valuable lessons learned for future model refinement.

This presentation will highlight the importance of RHIOs and some of the potential benefits for public health at a local level. It will then give an overview of the demonstration sites project including its rationale and overall goals. The presentation will conclude with identifying the next steps for disseminating the learning to other organizations involved with health information exchange.