Developing Information Systems That Support Public Health Work: The Common Ground Experience

Too often, information systems being used in health departments do not adequately meet the needs of those working in various public health fields. A first step in addressing that shortfall is to have public health practitioners define and characterize their needs and wants for an information system. Common Ground is a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation-funded project involving 15 local and state public health departments tasked with developing requirements for information systems that support chronic disease and preparedness work. To accomplish this, the group met together for nearly three years during which they learned innovative methodologies and techniques for defining information system requirements that would meet the needs of public health practitioners. The grantees discovered that, while state and local health departments may have a few differences in how they do their work, they share many more common tasks and work methods. Given this fact, they were able to collaboratively categorize and perform business process analysis on shared activities. They then described the information exchange in the activities by using context and task flow diagrams and defined the requirements for an information system that would support the tasks. The result is a collection of business process analysis products related to chronic disease and preparedness work on which other state and local health departments can draw. Besides providing examples for other projects needing information systems development, the products can be used as tools to help with quality improvement efforts and act as communication aids between program and information technology staff. It is expected that through promotion and discussion of Common Ground and other business process analysis work, best practices for information systems development and quality improvement will be established. With further collaboration, these efforts will help improve the work environment for public health and prepare it for future information systems needs.