We are having a panel discussion on three different topics that you can consider using in your organization. • Using social networking tools for cross-jurisdictional collaboration • Using EMRs to deliver public health alerts to the point of care • Using the Public Health Directory to locate people and organizations across public health organizations

Along with the expansion of available information, the information needs of organizations change constantly.  The need to filter and effectively share information across organizational entities is becoming critical.  This session will be a discussion focused on tools to facilitate information sharing in your organization:

• phConnect is a social collaboration network for public health professionals. Provided as a service by public health organizations including CDC and the Public Health Informatics Institute (PHII).   phConnect is user-friendly, free, and available from any web browser. It is organized by areas of common interest and jurisdictions can use phConnect as a tool to easily collaborate with each other.  The CACoP has used phConnect for document sharing and is currently building a document repository in it.
• The potential for electronic medical record (EMR) systems to alert clinicians of emerging health conditions deemed important for public health and specific to their patient at the time of care may impact health outcomes.  This will be a presentation on a pilot project done in conjunction with the Chicago Health Department. 
• The CDC has developed a Public Health Directory that can be used to look up people, organizations, and roles in public health.  Partners can use Directory Exchange to automatically populate their selected information in the Public Health Directory.