245258 Leveraging advances in Informatics to support data exchange between Public Health and Clinical Care

Wednesday, November 2, 2011: 12:30 PM

Eric Cahill, MS , National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA
Marcus Gaffney, MPH , National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA
Xidong Deng, PhD , National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA
     
Background: As public health works to become more efficient it is important to improve the bi-directional exchange of data with clinical care. The need for this is apparent in programs addressing infant hearing loss, a common condition that affects two to three infants per 1,000 live births and can result in delayed speech and language development when left undetected. In 2008 over 40% of infants were not reported to have received follow-up assessment. This has been partly attributed to a lack of accurate and timely data exchange among state newborn hearing programs and health care providers. Objective/purpose: This presentation will summarize how recent advances in health informatics and health information technology (HIT) can be leveraged to support improved exchange of data between stakeholders. Methods: Over the past three years the CDC has collaborated with partners in the health informatics research community, and government agencies on developing nationally recognized data exchange standards and tools. This included the development of use cases, quality measures, interoperability specifications, and standardized data value sets related to newborn hearing screening, diagnosis, and early intervention. Results: The results of recent efforts by CDC and others have been used to define the high-level functional requirements and implementation specifications necessary for public health information systems and electronic health record systems. These advances have established the foundation needed to improve the bi-directional exchange of data between public health and clinical care. Discussion/conclusions: The exchange of data between public health and clinical care can be improved by leveraging recent advances in health informatics and HIT. In this presentation we will review the activities undertaken to improve the bi-directional data exchange for state newborn hearing programs. We will also discuss how these advances can benefit other public health programs and summarize the next steps in realizing the harmonization of health information systems.

Learning Areas:
Communication and informatics
Systems thinking models (conceptual and theoretical models), applications related to public health

Learning Objectives:
1. Describe recent advances in health informatics and information technology related to newborn hearing. 2. Explain how advances in health information technology can be used to help achieve bi-directional data exchange. 3. Identify the steps necessary to achieve harmonization of health information systems.

Keywords: Information System Integration, Information Technology

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am qualified to present because I work with state EHDI programs to facilitate their exchange of data with clinical care entities.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

See more of: Health Informatics and Information Technology: Facilitating Data Sharing between Public Health and Clinical Care
See more of: Health Informatics Information Technology