Public Health Informatics in Local and State Health Agencies: An Update From the Public Health Workforce Interests and Needs Survey

OBJECTIVE: To characterize public health informatics (PHI) specialists and identify the informatics needs of the public health workforce. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. SETTING: US local and state health agencies. PARTICIPANTS: Employees from state health agencies central office (SHA-COs) and local health departments (LHDs) participating in the 2017 Public Health Workforce Interests and Needs Survey (PH WINS). We characterized and compared the job roles for self-reported PHI, "information technology specialist or information system manager" (IT/IS), "public health science" (PHS), and "clinical and laboratory" workers. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Descriptive statistics for demographics, income, education, public health experience, program area, job satisfaction, and workplace environment, as well as data and informatics skills and needs. RESULTS: A total of 17 136 SHA-CO and 26 533 LHD employees participated in the survey. PHI specialist was self-reported as a job role among 1.1% and 0.3% of SHA-CO and LHD employees. The PHI segment most closely resembled PHS employees but had less public health experience and had lower salaries. Overall, fewer than one-third of PHI specialists reported working in an informatics program area, often supporting epidemiology and surveillance, vital records, and communicable disease. Compared with PH WINS 2014, current PHI respondents' satisfaction with their job and workplace environment moved toward more neutral and negative responses, while the IT/IS, PHS, and clinical and laboratory subgroups shifted toward more positive responses. The PHI specialists were less likely than those in IT/IS, PHS, or clinical and laboratory roles to report gaps in needed data and informatics skills. CONCLUSIONS: The informatics specialists' role continues to be rare in public health agencies, and those filling that role tend to have less public health experience and be less well compensated than staff in other technically focused positions. Significant data and informatics skills gaps persist among the broader public health workforce

Public Health and Epidemiology Informatics: Recent Research and Trends in the United States

Objectives To survey advances in public health and epidemiology informatics over the past three years. Methods We conducted a review of English-language research works conducted in the domain of public health informatics (PHI), and published in MEDLINE between January 2012 and December 2014, where information and communication technology (ICT) was a primary subject, or a main component of the study methodology. Selected articles were synthesized using a thematic analysis using the Essential Services of Public Health as a typology. Results Based on themes that emerged, we organized the advances into a model where applications that support the Essential Services are, in turn, supported by a socio-technical infrastructure that relies on government policies and ethical principles. That infrastructure, in turn, depends upon education and training of the public health workforce, development that creates novel or adapts existing infrastructure, and research that evaluates the success of the infrastructure. Finally, the persistence and growth of infrastructure depends on financial sustainability. Conclusions Public health informatics is a field that is growing in breadth, depth, and complexity. Several Essential Services have benefited from informatics, notably, “Monitor Health,” “Diagnose & Investigate,” and “Evaluate.” Yet many Essential Services still have not yet benefited from advances such as maturing electronic health record systems, interoperability amongst health information systems, analytics for population health management, use of social media among consumers, and educational certification in clinical informatics. There is much work to be done to further advance the science of PHI as well as its impact on public health practice

Characterizing Informatics Roles and Needs of Public Health Workers: Results from the Public Health Workforce Interests and Needs Survey

Objective: To characterize public health workers who specialize in informatics and to assess informatics-related aspects of the work performed by the public health workforce. Methods (Design, Setting, Participants): Using the nationally representative Public Health Workforce Interests and Needs Survey (PH WINS), we characterized and compared responses from informatics, information technology (IT), clinical and laboratory, and other public health science specialists working in state health agencies. Main Outcome Measures: Demographics, income, education, and agency size were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Weighted medians and interquartile ranges were calculated for responses pertaining to job satisfaction, workplace environment, training needs, and informatics-related competencies. Results: Of 10 246 state health workers, we identified 137 (1.3%) informatics specialists and 419 (4.1%) IT specialists. Overall, informatics specialists are younger, but share many common traits with other public health science roles, including positive attitudes toward their contributions to the mission of public health as well as job satisfaction. Informatics specialists differ demographically from IT specialists, and the 2 groups also differ with respect to salary as well as their distribution across agencies of varying size. All groups identified unmet public health and informatics competency needs, particularly limited training necessary to fully utilize technology for their work. Moreover, all groups indicated a need for greater future emphasis on leveraging electronic health information for public health functions. Conclusions: Findings from the PH WINS establish a framework and baseline measurements that can be leveraged to routinely monitor and evaluate the ineludible expansion and maturation of the public health informatics workforce and can also support assessment of the growth and evolution of informatics training needs for the broader field. Ultimately, such routine evaluations have the potential to guide local and national informatics workforce development policy

The Future of Public Health Informatics: Alternative Scenarios and Recommended Strategies

Background: In October 2013, the Public Health Informatics Institute (PHII) and Institute for Alternative Futures (IAF) convened a multidisciplinary group of experts to evaluate forces shaping public health informatics (PHI) in the United States, with the aim of identifying upcoming challenges and opportunities. The PHI workshop was funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation as part of its larger strategic planning process for public health and primary care. Workshop Context: During the two-day workshop, nine experts from the public and private sectors analyzed and discussed the implications of four scenarios regarding the United States economy, health care system, information technology (IT) sector, and their potential impacts on public health in the next 10 years, by 2023. Workshop participants considered the potential role of the public health sector in addressing population health challenges in each scenario, and then identified specific informatics goals and strategies needed for the sector to succeed in this role. Recommendations and Conclusion: Participants developed recommendations for the public health informatics field and for public health overall in the coming decade. These included the need to rely more heavily on intersectoral collaborations across public and private sectors, to improve data infrastructure and workforce capacity at all levels of the public health enterprise, to expand the evidence base regarding effectiveness of informatics-based public health initiatives, and to communicate strategically with elected officials and other key stakeholders regarding the potential for informatics-based solutions to have an impact on population health

NATIONAL CENTER FOR PUBLIC HEALTH INFORMATICS (CPE)

The National Center for Public Health Informatics (NCPHI) protects and improves the public\u2019s health through discovery, innovation, and service in health information technology and informatics. Informatics can be defined as the collection, classification, storage, retrieval, and dissemination of recorded knowledge. Public health informatics can be defined as the systematic application of information and computer science and technology to public health practice, research and learning. NCPHI assumes a leadership role for CDC in public health informatics and health information technology; ensures progress on CDC information resources, informatics, and health information systems and standards; facilitate cross-national center collaboration on informatics and health information projects; and advances and supports health information and informatics initiatives, systems, and activities across public health. (Approved 9/27/2005)Publication date from document properties: created: 4/7/08; modified: 10/23/08NCPHIfs.pdfOffice of the Director (CPE1) -- Enterprise Architecture Activity (CPE12) -- Science and Research Activity (CPE13) -- Program Management Activity (CPE14) -- Business Services Office (CPE15) -- Division of Alliance Management and Consultation (CPEB) -- Division of Alliance Management and Consultation (CPEB) -- Division of Alliance Management and Consultation (CPEB) -- Library Services Most Efficient Organization (CPEC2) -- Division of Informatics Shared Services (CPED) -- Division of Integrated Surveillance Systems and Services (CPEE) -- Division of Emergency Preparedness and Response (CPEG) --2008627

Applied Public Health Informatics: An eHealth Discipline Focused on Populations

The discipline of public health informatics, part of the broader eHealth field, brings methods, knowledge, and theories from computer science and information science to support population health and well-being. This branch of informatics is most often found in governmental public health agencies that focus on population-level activities, including surveillance of disease as well as disease prevention. There are several specialised public health information systems used to prevent or mitigate disease, including syndromic surveillance, electronic laboratory reporting, and population health dashboards. This article defines and describes public health informatics and its role in eHealth. The article further discusses the role of public health information systems and challenges they face for the future. Strengthening public health will require greater investment in interoperability as well as analytics and the workforce. Disease outbreaks like COVID-19, Ebola, and H1N1 demonstrate the need for robust public health informatics applications and methods. Yet there is much work to be done to evolve existing tools and methods to strengthen the public health infrastructure for the next pandemic

Informatics Metrics and Measures for a Smart Public Health Systems Approach: Information Science Perspective

Public health informatics is an evolving domain in which practices constantly change to meet the demands of a highly complex public health and healthcare delivery system. Given the emergence of various concepts, such as learning health systems, smart health systems, and adaptive complex health systems, health informatics professionals would benefit from a common set of measures and capabilities to inform our modeling, measuring, and managing of health system “smartness.” Here, we introduce the concepts of organizational complexity, problem/issue complexity, and situational awareness as three codependent drivers of smart public health systems characteristics. We also propose seven smart public health systems measures and capabilities that are important in a public health informatics professional’s toolkit

Population Health Informatics: Challenges, Opportunities, and Case Studies

Dr. Hadi Kharrazi’s presentation focused on “population health informatics,” a growing field of research in the informatics community. He introduced his center at Johns Hopkins; provided a working definition for population health informatics and discussed its top challenges and opportunities. Dr. Kharrazi presented a number of research projects to demonstrate the importance and potential long-term benefits of population health informatics in the overall field of healthcare and beyond. The objectives of the presentation were: Define population health informatics and describe its role in the context of value-based care Explain the effect of different data types, sources and qualities in population stratification and risk prediction Discuss the challenges and opportunities of population health informatics Dr. Hadi Kharrazi is an assistant professor of health policy and management at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, and the research director of the Center for Population Health IT. His research focuses on the application of informatics in risk stratification, and the effect of data type and quality in predicting utilization. Dr. Hadi Kharrazi is an assistant professor of health policy and management at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, and the research director of the Center for Population Health IT. His research focuses on the application of informatics in risk stratification, and the effect of data type and quality in predicting utilization. In addition, Dr. Kharrazi has developed more than a dozen courses in health informatics and is currently the director of the DrPH Informatics track program at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, and the co-director of the PhD program in Health Informatics at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine’s Division of Health Sciences Informatics. He is a senior clinical informatician with specialization in EHR platforms, Health Information Exchange (HIE), and Clinical Decision Support Systems (CDSS). Dr. Kharrazi\u27s longterm research interest is in contextualizing CDSS in PHI platforms to be utilized at different HIT levels of managed care such as EHR platforms or consumer health informatics solutions. Presentation: 51:19 Note: PowerPoint presentation slide deck is at the bottom of the page

Community health assessment tutorial

Introduction to the tutorial -- How to use this tutorial -- Make view: create a survey -- Make view: check code -- Enter data -- Analysis: basics -- Analysis: creating statistics -- Analysis: Epi graph -- Analysis: Exporting files -- Analysis: Data management for maps -- Epi map -- Epi report -- Intermediate analysis -- Appendix A. Code sheet -- Appendix B. Parent school asthma pre-intervention survey -- Appendix C. Data entry surveys -- Appendix D. Skills reviews answer key -- Appendix E. Lesson 5 answer key -- Appendix F. Intermediate analysis answer key -- Appendix G. preparing data for use in the Epi Info tutorial -- Appendix H. Glossary -- Appendix I. Data sources -- References"Published October 2005.""The Epi Info Community Health Assessment Tutorial was produced by the collaborative efforts of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Assessment Initiative (AI), and the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH)." - acknowledgementsMode of access: Internet as an Acrobat .pdf file (25.35 MB, 421 p.)Includes bibliographical references (p. 411)