Key Objectives:
During this roundtable session, HHD and CDPH will:
- present their use and adaptation of PHII resources available to health departments;
- discuss strategies to create an informatics-savvy health department; and
- generate ideas to get buy-in from internal and external stakeholders.
Brief Summary:
Informatics has matured beyond a subset of epidemiology or information technology into its own discipline within public health. However, the value of an informatics-savvy health department is not always understood or appreciated outside of epidemiology and informatics programs within a health department. The Houston Health Department (HHD) and the Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH) have both developed Informatics Programs independent from epidemiology, and are actively working to build informatics savvy health departments. In 2016, HHD’s Office of Surveillance and Public Health Preparedness (OSPHP) partnered with the Public Health Informatics Institute (PHII) and National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) to pilot assessments of informatics savviness, interoperability, and to facilitate a strategic visioning session. Data and insights from these workshops allowed HHD to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats for the Informatics Program. HHD prioritized three key objects in developing the informatics strategic plan: (1) better understand, catalogue, and consolidate the existing data resources within HHD; (2) increase training and collaboration in informatics for internal stakeholders; and (3) promote stakeholder engagement and access to HHD data. In 2015, CDPH used PHII’s Informatics-Savvy Health Department Assessment to evaluate informatics capacity, and in 2016, adapted PHII’s Public Health Informatics Profile Toolkit to conduct an Informatics Inventory and Assessment. The assessment produced an inventory of all electronic applications and paper-based processes in use, current data sharing agreements, and training needs throughout the department. Future workforce development activities will be shaped by these findings. The next step is for the Informatics Program to collaborate with executive leadership to implement results in support of CDPH’s strategic plan and measure progress by redoing the Informatics Savvy-Health Department Assessment. For HHD, the development of a vision and subsequent strategies has resulted in a clear delineation between informaticians and epidemiologists within OSPHP. An additional benefit to having an independent informatics program is being able to target informatics-specific funding. The assessment provided CDPH time to articulate their processes and barriers, learn about program activities, and meet employees across the department. It also offered an opportunity for CDPH programs to understand what the Informatics Program is, and how it can help with their projects going forward.