The Public Health Community Platform

BACKGROUND:  Maintenance of IT infrastructure for public health information systems at the state and local governmental level is becoming increasingly costly and complex.  However, the current state of public health information systems remains highly fragmented and insufficient to tackle the complexity of electronic data exchange with clinical care providers.  With a goal of providing a forum for common data exchange and development of innovative and interoperable systems, ASTHO is engaged in the development of  the Public Health Community Platform (PHCP).  

METHODS:  The PCHP is anticipated to provide cloud-based infrastructure and services for the public health enterprise to support application hosting and electronic data exchange.  The success of the PHCP is dependent upon transparent planning and communications activities which fully engage the public health community and other key stakeholders including federal agencies and the healthcare sector.  Equally critical to the success of the PHCP will be appropriate technology selection, governance structure and full understanding of legal implications of the shared platform model.  

RESULTS:  Status updates will be provided on Year 1 project activities, including a needs assessment and technical, legal, governance, and business feasibility studies.   Plans for rapid-cycle prototyping will be discussed.  

CONCLUSIONS:  The PHCP promises a cost-effective solution to  improve timeliness of exchange between healthcare and public health sectors, enhanced data analysis across multiple data sets resulting in greater efficiencies in assessing complex public health issues, and ultimately, to improved population health.