Panel presents the PHDSC Business Case: Role of Public Health in Health IT (HIT) Standardization, an overview of PHDSC web-resources and on-going projects that enable the use of interoperable HIT products in public health. Aligned with the National ONC Standards and Interoperability Framework, the Business Case is assuring the process of working with various clinical and public health stakeholders in the mainstream of the national HIT standardization activities.

The PHDSC Business Case: Role of Public Health in Health IT (HIT) Standardization is one of the first documents developed for public health regarding the technically challenging world of HIT standardization. It helps state/local public health decision-makers see the need to actively participate in the national efforts for interoperability between clinical and public health information systems; helps public health program leaders and staff to navigate through relevant interoperability activities; and helps professional organizations work together on harmonizing standards across specific public health programs.  This enables interoperable health information exchange with clinical Electronic Health Record Systems (EHR-Ss) and public health information systems at all levels of government; and, in turn, helps support public health programs activities in protecting the public’s health.

The Business Case.includes the Call to Action that describes how various public health stakeholders (local, state and federal governments, academia, HIT vendors, and professional associations) could facilitate increased participation of public health representatives in the national HIT standardization process.

To implement the Business Case, the PHDSC launched the Web-based Web-based Web-based Resource Center on Public Health in HIT Standardization. It is designed to address barriers for public health participation in HIT standardization. The Resource Center contains three Modules (the HIT Standards Resource Module, the HIT Adoption Stories Module, and the Public Health in HIT Standardization Module) aimed to assist public health representatives and decision makers in selecting and deploying interoperable HIT products.

In addition, the PHDSC has been working on various HIT standardization activities for public health including identifying needs and priorities for standards for local health departments via business process analysis; standards development at the HL7 for public health reporting; standards harmonization and testing, and standard-based IT projects certification and deployment for various programs including Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI), vital records, public health laboratories; and administrative data exchanges.