HIT Tools and Resources

A major component of public health infrastructure capacity building assistance focuses on health information technology (HIT). NACCHO in partnership with ASTHO, and the CDC will work together to improve the local and state infrastructure to develop and operate use interoperable systems that reach across clinical and public health systems and that utilize EHR data; vital statistics; disease outbreak investigations data sets; hospital discharges and behavioral risk data, etc. Best practices, strategic plans, along with business processes and technical requirements for various interoperable systems are provided below.

In September of 2012, NACCHO and ASTHO teamed up to provide informatics training for the Pacific Island Health Officers Association under the NPHII cooperative agreement for technical assistance. The workshop was held in Guam over three days and was designed to include a broad list of informatics topics, tools, and many hands on exercises (available for review HERE). The target group of participants included health information officers, public health program officers implementing new software applications, and Health agency IT officers for hospitals, community health centers and public health departments across the Pacific Islands.  

Meeting objectives included:

1. Develop an understanding of the elements of health informatics projects (vision, goals, strategy, performance, stakeholders, governance, program benefit, project management, financial impact, data management, business process, and contract management).
2. Develop relationships for mutual assistance among public sector health agency HIS and IT officers in US affiliated Pacific island jurisdictions;
3. Consider consensus regional standards for HIS and IT Officer competencies, and options for formal certification

Meeting products included:

1. An improved implementation plan for an upcoming (or ongoing) IT project
2. Improved efficiency/effectiveness of one health agency task (using process diagram and business process matrix as tools)
3. Improve scope of work and contract for one health IT project (applying IT contracting principles)

Participants were encouraged to come prepared with the following:

• Materials (such as project proposals or project development/implementation plans) related to an upcoming (or ongoing) IT project
• One task that is done in your agency that needs improved efficiency or effectiveness (for example, recording birth and death records, collecting for clinic services, dispensing prescriptions, recording immunizations).
• Please talk to the people who are doing this task in your agency and bring a step-by-step procedure for how they are doing the task now.
• One contract for any IT project that you are getting ready to do, or have recently done.

Please contact mcoletta@naccho.org if you are interested in this sort of training for your health departments.

• ICD-10 Information
• Public Health Data Standards Consortium
  
• National HIT Standards Committee