Creating value: unifying silos into public health business intelligence

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Health Informatics
• Health Services Research

Background:

• Unprecedented federal investments exceeded $25 billion in incentive funds for health information technology by September 2014.
• Over 85% of eligible US hospitals and 60% of eligible providers adopted certified Electronic Health Record (EHR) technology, receiving Meaningful Use incentive funds.
• The HITECH Act significantly influenced the adoption and meaningful use of EHR technology.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the potential value of certified EHR technology for public health (PH).
• To identify opportunities for leveraging evolving data-use capabilities within PH.
• To address challenges in integrating PH programs and departments.

Main Methods:

• Review of existing literature and policy documents related to health information technology and public health.
• Analysis of data-use opportunities presented by certified EHR technology.
• Exploration of technology and system approaches for data integration and reuse.

Main Results:

• Certified EHR technology presents novel and rapidly evolving data-use opportunities for public health.
• Components for integrated business intelligence and data reuse are currently available.
• Fragmentation of PH programs due to historical funding structures presents a challenge.

Conclusions:

• Technology and system strategies are proposed to harness the information explosion for healthcare transformation and population health.
• Optimizing information opportunities can enhance the role of public health within the learning health system.
• Public Health Systems and Services Research (PHSSR) can identify critical gaps and solutions for the PH community.