One goal of many public health organizations is to be able to integrate data, either from various programs within their own agency or from various state and local organizations. This maximizes the use of information and minimizes duplicate data entry. Data standards are the common language that allows information to be shared electronically across information systems.
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Public Health Data Standards Consortium (PHDSC)
A voluntary confederation of federal, state, and local health departments; national and local professional associations; public and private sector organizations; and individuals. The overall goal of the confederation is to develop, promote, and implement data standards for population health practices and research. The PHDSC Web site provides excellent background information on public health data standards and standards development efforts.
PHIN Functions and Specifications
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and NACCHO are incorporated into CDC cooperative agreements with state and local health departments.
UMLS Vocabulary Standards
The National Library of Medicine of the National Institutes of Health provides an online Unified Medical Language System with a glossary of biomedical and health informatics terminology and standards.
Healthcare Information Technology Standards Panel (HITSP)
The Healthcare Information Technology Standards Panel (HITSP) is a cooperative partnership between the public and private sectors. The Panel was formed for the purpose of harmonizing and integrating standards that will meet clinical and business needs for sharing information among organizations and systems.
