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Communities of Practice (CoP) are comprised of people interested in learning and sharing knowledge within a domain. The InfoLinks CoP has been formed to bring together public health professionals from a wide-variety of venues, i.e. non-profit organizations, state and local health departments, and federal agencies, who all have a commitment to the development of HIEs to promote the public’s health.
The InfoLinks CoP’s focus is on knowledge sharing, collaboration, and expertise and solution building. The intent is to spark innovation in the design and implementation of robust HIEs. The InfoLinks CoP seeks to capture the "stories" of individuals who have "walked the walk" to provide insights to others who may be embarking on similar road. Additionally, and more specifically, the InfoLinks CoP provides a forum for discussion of current HIE issues by public health professionals.
The framework for facilitating the InfoLinks CoP consists of an interactive website, teleconferences and webinars, and face-to-face meetings. Because CoPs are most effective when leadership is shared, not predetermined by management, members are encouraged to take the lead to identify and respond to common HIE issues within the CoP.
In this presentation, we will describe our experience in implementing the InfoLinks CoP since its inception in February 2008. We will share our lessons learned and the state of ongoing progress of the CoP. Also, we will describe HIE issues addressed by CoP members and the approaches taken to share knowledge and expertise.