The Issues of Interoperability and Data Connectedness for Public Health

An unprecedented amount of data is being collected across a diversity of sectors, which, if harnessed, could transform public health decision-making. Yet significant challenges stand in the way of such a vision, including the need to establish standards of data sharing and interoperability, the need for innovation in both methodological approaches and workforce models, and the need for data stewardship and governance models to ensure the protection and integrity of the public health data system. As with other articles in this supplement, this article builds from a literature review, environmental scan, and deliberations from the National Commission to Transform Public Health Data Systems. The article summarizes some of the challenges around data sharing and reuse and identifies where the technology and data sectors can contribute to fill current gaps to promote interoperability and data stewardship.