Environmental Public Health Tracking – Implementing the Secure Portal

The Environmental Public Health Tracking (Tracking) Network provides information from a nationwide network of integrated health and environmental data to drive public health action. The Tracking Network was tasked with being a resource for both the public health professional and the general public. To meet this need of a diverse user base, the Tracking Program chose to create two independent yet closely linked portals: a public portal and a secure portal. This presentation will focus on the secure portal, covering topics that include requirements gathering and how those requirements were prioritized into short and long term goals. The presentation will give information on the technology path chosen, as well as the challenges encountered when performing the implementation. Working in collaboration with state and local Tracking grantees, the Tracking Program developed a security model used to establish user-controlled role-based access to data on the secure portal. The role-based access model will be described in detail with attention given to its origins, development, and challenges. Finally, with the launch of the secure portal, the Tracking Program seeks to improve its product. The presenter will describe potential evaluation strategies to determine features to be improved.