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Exploring data modernization in action with ‘DMI Stories from the Field’
Senior Informatics Analyst Sarah Shaw explains how “DMI Stories from the Field” illustrate what successful data modernization for states and jurisdictions looks like in practice.
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PHII bids farewell to Sabanur Cavdar
PHII expresses our gratitude for the Humphrey Fellow Sabanur Cavdar's contributions to our work.
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A path forward to build back better for public health infrastructure
PHII Director Vivian Singletary discusses using an equity lens to rethink a vision for US public health data and infrastructure.
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Reflections on the year 2022 and looking toward to 2023
Showing creativity in how we recruit and train our workforce could create a pipeline of skilled, talented people who come to public health and stay there.
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New hope for the future of public health
Vivian reflects on what new ONC funding could mean for public health
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Looking back to look ahead: my lucky 7 for 2021
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Informatics for Everyone
This video series describes informatics from three key perspectives: practitioners, program managers and senior leaders.
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How the MAT-LINK project is shedding light on the opioid epidemic
Opioid use disorder is increasingly a problem among pregnant women. The MAT-LINK project is looking to measure that problem and inform future interventions
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The Claire Loe Memorial Library
A dedication to a friend and colleague.
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Looking back on five years of success
As 2018 comes to a close, it is worth reflecting on the progress we've made over the years.
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Let’s talk: building systems that communicate for better health care
In a growing e-health world, we need health systems that reflect our capabilities and needs.
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Moving toward informatics savviness: a tale of two health departments
The recent efforts of Detroit and Chicago's health departments to build informatics capacity provides a useful case study for other agencies.
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Introducing Critical Success Factors for Informatics Projects
Is your agency in the process of becoming more informatics-savvy? Learn how to improve the success of your informatics projects!
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Case Study: The York Bureau of Health’s Search for an Information System
In 2016, the City of York Bureau of Health was ready to invest in an electronic information system to support its clinical ser
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CRDM™ with the City of York Bureau of Health
Sheereen Brown recently wrapped up a project with the City of York Bureau of Health that she calls the “bread and butter” of Requirements Lab work.
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A public health perspective on interoperability
In this guest blog, Noam Arzt of HLN Consulting describes challenges that public health faces around interoperability.
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The power of metaphors: how to communicate about public health informatics
A new video provides an overview of how metaphors can help the public health workforce better understand informatics.
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The Road to an Informatics-Savvy Health Department: A State and Local Experience
SHINE fellows Nicole Willis and Kim Peifer guest blog this week all about their efforts to build an informatics-savvy health department.
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Informatics working to meet specific needs and ensure consistency: my work on the PICK-CHAMPS application
The PICK-CHAMPS application gives the CHAMPS team the data and cultural context to work respectfully across surveillance sites.
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Filling in the blanks: communicating public health informatics
Informatics touches nearly every area of public health, but communicating the value of the discipline presents its own challenges.
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Rising stars: public health informatics and the Young African Leadership Initiative
Former YALI intern Godfrey Nyombi takes to the blog to describe his experience at PHII.
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Eulogy for Dr. Claire Loe
Dr. Dave Ross, president and CEO of the Task Force for Global Health and former director of PHII, delivered this eulogy in honor of Dr. Claire Loe at her memorial service in Houston, Texas on December 10, 2016.
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Honoring the life and work of Dr. Claire Loe
The Public Health Informatics Institute mourns the recent passing of Dr. Claire Loe, friend, artist and lifelong health advocate.
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The next generation of electronic death registration systems
Accurate reporting of deaths in the U.S. is important for legal reasons, personal reasons and for state and national mortality statistics.
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Featuring the 8 Steps course: building communities, strengthening IT systems
Over the past four years, I’ve had the privilege of supporting the Informatics Academy’s first distance learning course: Designing & Managing Public Health Information Systems: 8 Steps to Success.
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Understanding childhood mortality through informatics
In a collaborative PHII project, innovative data collection will be critical to informing public health interventions to reduce childhood mortality.
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Challenges and changes: preparing a new generation of IIS managers
Earlier this summer, PHII hosted training for new immunization information system managers.
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Bridge-building: collaborating on a shared vision for digital health
A recent visioning session around digital health brought together top representatives from public health, health care and health IT.
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A different way to meet
We recently tackled some key public health challenges using a fairly unusual meeting format.
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Notes on beginnings: PHII then and now
In Vivian's Singletary's first blog as PHII's director, she addresses PHII's origin story and her vision for its future.
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Sexually transmitted infections: getting better data for a better public health response
The key to effective public health response is capturing timely, accurate and complete data.
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Farewell reflections on PHII and passing the torch
Presenting Vivian Singletary as the new leader of PHII gives me joy for many reasons. Along with her talents and energy for the job, I also recognize that she inherits an organization that has many strengths.
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Now taking your questions!
If you’re not aware, PHII recently launched its own podcast, “Inform Me, Informatics.” The show features interviews with public health professionals working in the rapidly growing informatics field.
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Launching a new immunization information system in Oklahoma
PHII collaborated with the state of Oklahoma to support the development and rollout of their new IIS.
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Meaningful Use lives on!
The controversial report of the demise of the Meaningful Use incentive program was greatly exaggerated.
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CHAMPS: the pledge to reduce global childhood mortality
Almost 6 million children under the age of 5 die each year across the world. PHII is joining key partners to significantly reduce this number.
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The Task Force vs. NCDs: Playing our part
Non-communicable diseases (NCD) are the leading causes of death globally, with mortality expected to increase by 15 percent by 2020.
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Electronic health records, population health management and public health
In the midst of a culture change in American health care, information use, as opposed to information technology, lies at the center.
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The business of building robust public health systems
Public health is generally not considered part of the conversation when discussing businesses.
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“Infor-what-ics?”: Communications challenges of an emerging field
Even within the field of public health, defining the concept of "informatics" and its value continues to be a difficult task.
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Uniting individual and community health as a single concept
Measurements of health tell us about our health status and signal the performance measurement standards needed to improve quality of care in the U.S.
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The role of data in the fight against NTDs
Neglected tropical diseases affect a billion people worldwide. Learn how we're harnessing data to fight back.
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Information system lessons found in nature
Biology offers some useful lessons to all of us in structuring effective information systems.
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Bridging the gap in hearing loss intervention with data
One of the most common birth defects in the U.S. is hearing loss.
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Contemplations on the quantified self
Over the last couple of months, I’ve seen wearable health trackers popping up all around the PHII and Task Force for Global Health offices.
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The Task Force for Global Health turns 30
Earlier this week, a group gathered at the Carter Center to celebrate The Task Force for Global Health's 30th anniversary.
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Who wants my job?
As many of my readers already know, next year I will be transitioning to take on the role of President/CEO at PHII’s parent organization, the Task Force for Global Health.
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Go west, young man: lessons on health IT from Minnesota and Dr. DeSalvo
The ONC's new strategic plan is achievable—as one U.S. state demonstrates.
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Public health informatics defined
It may not be a big surprise that the top reason for visits to our website come from one simple question: What is public health informatics?
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The Informatics Academy: People, process and technology, part III
Of people, process, and technology, the technology component of informatics receives a significant amount of attention.
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The Informatics Academy: People, process and technology, part II
At PHII’s Informatics Academy, we produce solutions that are realistic, practical and tailored to the training need.
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The Informatics Academy: People, process and technology, part I
At PHII, our approach to informatics starts with people.
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Health IT as doctors’ aides
The history of health care information technology is a story about finding tasks technology can serve.
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AIRA, immunization and public health’s “moon mission”
Last week, I had the honor of keynoting the 2015 meeting for the American Immunization Registry Association.
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Data for Health: recommendations for what works Dave Ross
In the field of public health informatics, we talk and think at length about how data and health intersect, but on the Data for Health tour, we moved beyond the theoretical.
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Lessons learned from the Ebola outbreak, Part II
The recent Ebola outbreak has taught us a few lessons about the importance of public health preparedness and response and the urgency in which it’s needed.
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Infographic: a snapshot of the social determinants of health
This infographic shows social determinants in action in PHII's home state of Georgia.
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The road to becoming an informatics-savvy health department
State and local health departments around the country are challenged to increase their information capabilities in a digital era.
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Social determinants of health: the IOM’s vision for the future of care
Public health has long recognized the correlation between health and certain social and behavioral variables that range from ZIP code to income bracket.
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Defining health beyond the clinic
It’s easy to mobilize our society when infectious diseases are involved, but outside of infectious disease control, defining who’s responsible for the health of a society becomes complex and controversial.
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Data for Health: building a culture of health through information
This fall, I’m co-chairing Data for Health, an initiative by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation that seeks to explore how information and data on health can be harnessed to help people lead healthier lives.
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Disruptive innovation in public health
“Disruptive innovation” is a term born in academia and bred in Silicon Valley, but does it have a place in the world of public health?
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Lessons learned from the Ebola outbreak
If Americans want to know why Ebola quickly got out of control, they should look no further than the neglected public health system.
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The Healthy Weight Initiative: interoperability as a path to obesity prevention
Last year, the CDC reacted to the growing obesity epidemic by inviting PHII to join them in developing a new surveillance initiative to monitor healthy weight.
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So what is a functional requirement anyway?
When PHII’s Requirements Lab begins a new project, one of our first steps following the documentation of business processes is often to begin developing functional requirements with project partners and stakeholders.
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PHII welcomes Godfrey Nyombi of the Young African Leadership Initiative
This month, the Public Health Informatics Institute welcomes Godfrey Nyombi to a seven-week internship with PHII.
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Dave Fleming departs leadership role in Washington State
Dave Fleming, public health icon and innovator, stepped down this week from his long-held position as the Director of Public Health for Seattle and King County.
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Bill Brand recognized for leadership in e-health
It is with great pleasure and pride that I congratulate my longtime friend and colleague Bill Brand on his recent award from the Commissioner of Health in Minnesota.
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Lending a hand to IIS managers, the unsung heroes of immunization records
The CDC, recognizing the need for further support and enrichment for IIS managers across the country, reached out to PHII with the request that we design a training program for newer hires.
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Thoughts from my Keeneland Conference keynote
Recently, I presented the keynote address at the 2014 Keeneland Conference, which this year had the theme, “building the evidence base for public health practice and policy."
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Adventures with InVenture: PHII’s intern takes on sanitation design
PHII is delighted to congratulate our intern, Jasmine Burton, on her recent success in the InVenture Prize Competition.
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The AIDS-free generation: PHII’s role in Obama’s HIV/AIDS global health policy
A recent report from the CSIS Global Health Policy Center does an excellent job of summarizing President Obama’s global health policy, particularly around HIV/AIDS.
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Taking the World AIDS Day challenge: on the ground in Mozambique
In 2011, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced one theme for all World AIDS Days through 2015: “Getting to zero."
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Field photo roundup
PHII works on projects domestically and around the world, from Minnesota to Botswana. Our staff is tasked with building information capacity to improve global health outcomes in these areas.
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The power of partnership: public health rises to the meaningful use 3 challenge
Last week, the Health IT Policy Committee’s Meaningful Use Workgroup made a decision that immediately caused a stir in the public health community.
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Private health care finds population health
As the ACA is implemented, the American health care system is moving from its previous fee-for-service model to one that is more of a value-based purchasing model.
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Celebrating the life and work of Bill Watson
The Public Health Informatics Institute mourns the recent passing of Bill Watson, friend, leader and titan of innovation in public health.
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Clean Sweeps in the Rust Belt: Buffalo, NY Uses Big Data to Improve Neighborhoods
In Buffalo, NY, city departments are working together as part of the Operation Clean Sweep program to improve the most challenged neighborhoods.
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“Struck by Orca”: An Illustrated Guide to ICD-10
A new illustrated book pokes fun at bizarre ICD-10 codes like “Z62.891 Sibling rivalry” and “W56.22xA Struck by orca, initial encounter.”
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Empowering Public Health: The Creation and Adoption of Standards
PHII recently provided recommendations on public health standards to the National Committee for Vital and Health Statistics at their request.
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Moving Towards an Enterprise Approach to Public Health
With the advent of large scale automation in the personal health care sector, public health has the opportunity to move from narrowly-viewed surveillance systems to an enterprise view.
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The Legacy of All Kids Count
16 years ago, PHII began as a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation-funded program called All Kids Count.
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Embracing Wikipedia to Improve Population Health
In a recent interview from The Atlantic, one medical school professor said writing off Wikipedia entirely is a missed opportunity for the health care community.
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Moving into Evidence-Based Practice
Two public health programs recently combined into a new single operational center funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
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Getting Back to Our Roots: The Rise of Local Health Depts in the US
In 1911, a typhoid epidemic sparked a series of events that led to the beginnings of the modern local public health system.
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The Informatics Academy: An Integrated Professional Education Approach
Last week, an online course from the Informatics Academy introduced 60 public health professionals to the IT Lifecycle.
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NYC Macroscope: Using EHRs to Monitor Population Health
New York City is developing a population health surveillance system that uses EHRs to track chronic conditions managed by primary care practices.
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New Health IT Framework Available for ACOs
The Certification Commission for Health Information Technology (CCHIT) has developed an HIT Framework to help accountable care organizations (ACOs) and healthcare providers navigate the future of technology and accountable care.
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New ASPE Report on IT Infrastructure in State and Local Health Departments
A new report looks closely at how the recent passage of the HITECH Act and the ACA are affecting trends in public health informatics.
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Health IT Systems: Costs vs. Benefits Dave Ross
In a recent report outlined by iHealthBeat, it was found that 71% of U.S. physicians believe the use and implementation of Health IT systems will raise health care costs.
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The Truth About Medical Billing
The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services recently released hospital data revealing the wide variation in medical billing.
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The Challenge of Producing Worthy Evidence
“What do we want? Evidence-based change. When do we want it? After peer review.”
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Meaningful Use and Public Health
The Stage 2 Meaningful Use Public Health Reporting Requirements Task Force has published guidance for public health agencies (PHAs) preparing for Stage 2 Meaningful Use (MU2).
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The Long Road to Interoperability
As the provisions of the HITECH act become the law of the medical reimbursement landscape, the provisions of meaningful use are gaining wider public attention.
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The Implications of Google Flu Trends for Public Health
Applications like Google Flu Trends can and will use data to speak to citizen’s health concerns.
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Social Media and the Future of Public Health
Researchers all over the world are beginning to explore when and how people respond to the use of social media for communications regarding various types of public health issues.
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2012 Word of the Year: Big Data
Geoffrey Nunberg, a noted linguist and professor at UC Berkeley's School of Information, recently offered his thoughts on the word of the year.
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LawAtlas: Tracking the Laws of Public Health
Public health informatics is about information informing action, and nowhere is that linkage more clear than in the way the law is used as a public health intervention.
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NACCHO Launches New Public Health Informatics Blog
I wanted to direct your attention to NACCHO's new blog, ePublic Health Talks, which promises to be a welcome addition to the online conversation about public health informatics.
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Is Public Health Ready to Embrace Social Media?
The Department of Health and Human Services has just launched a new contest for developers to create a Twitter app that tracks top-trending illnesses and automatically delivers that information to public health agencies.
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Understand Your Workflow
Public health agencies have to understand how they do their work before they can consider technology solutions.
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What Contagion Got Wrong, Part II
In my last post, I talked about inaccuracies in how the movie...
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What Contagion Got Wrong
I finally had the chance to see the movie Contagion on video this weekend and was impressed with it.
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