Creating an Informatics Profile in Minnesota to Assess Readiness for Interoperability and Use of Standards

As momentum increases for achieving the vision for “e-health”, public health agencies are expected to exchange electronic transactions using accepted e-health standards.   In 2007, Minnesota passed a law that mandates all providers to have interoperable electronic health records by 2015. Many public health information systems do not have this capability.  This project sought to identify which public health systems need to be modernized to meet the mandate and assess the readiness for interoperability.

This informatics profile was developed by analysis of existing data and application inventory data and by conducting in-depth interviews with programmatic subject matter experts.  Details on information exchange such as information content, methods, protocols, standards, current level of interoperability and plans for progress were collected.  Information on standards included messaging, vocabulary and readiness for standards adoption including opportunities and barriers.  The informatics profile included working definitions for application and data sets.

The assessment identified 28 applications that met the criteria for inclusion as significant for e-health interoperability. This includes 19 applications at MDH, 4 at local health departments and 5 at the Minnesota Department of Human Services.

The presentation will describe results of the readiness and opportunities for actions. This informatics profile is a resource for: strategic planning, e-health planning, support of existing projects, workforces planning and data for policy makers. The profile highlights the opportunities and obstacles in creation of an efficient public health informatics infrastructure and can be used in presenting a strong business case to policy makers and funders.