HEALTH INFORMATICS INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (HIIT) IS A SECTION OF THE AMERICAN PUBLIC HEALTH ASSOCIATION
THE e-NEWSLETTER COMMITTED TO IMPROVING GLOBAL HEALTH THROUGH TECHNOLOGY
Volume 8, Issue 8 Spring 2010
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
-Message from the HIIT Chair
-APHA Initiatives on Transportation and Public Health
-Latest Edition of Online Public Health Informatics Journal Published
-HIIT Collaborates with APHA Member Groups
-Health Information Technology
-HIIT Leadership
-Meetings
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Greetings!
Welcome to HIIT’s second newsletter for this year. In this edition you’ll find news about the Section and what’s new in public health information technology.
The Section is currently gearing up for the 138th APHA Annual Meeting in Denver and focused on growing its member base and operation:
1-HIIT Scientific Sessions-APHA Annual Meeting
We received over 200 abstract submissions this year! We appreciate the contributions of the authors and reviewers, and want to thank the moderators in advance. Special thanks to our Program Planners, Dr. Diane L. Adams and Jason Goldwater, for organizing an excellent program!
2-Building HIIT Committees & Membership
Our committee memberships are growing, and we continue to encourage you to join us. Visit our website for more information: www.pubhiit.org
3-Contributing to Expanding Knowledge In the Field of Public Health Informatics
The second volume of the Online Journal of Public Health Informatics (OJPHI) has been published! (Under the guidance of Dr. Edward Mensah, HIIT's Chair of Education & Research and Chief Editor of the OJPHI). The journal is a collaborative effort between HIIT and the University of Illinois-Chicago School of Public Health. The journal "explores the socio-economic, ethical, and legal impacts of informatics applications in public health. It is a quarterly open access, open source, peer-reviewed journal based on Open Journal Systems." You can access the journal at http://ojphi.org.
4-Providing Community Outreach
A warm welcome to Eileen Elias (MEd), HIIT's new Chair of Community Outreach! Eileen is a Senior Policy Advisor for Disability and Mental Health at JBS International, Inc., in North Bethesda, Md. She succeeds Brenda Leath (MHSA, PMP), who has served as committee chair for over five years, and this is a great time to thank Brenda for her leadership and continuing guidance as a member of HIIT's Advisory Board. Thank you, Brenda!
5-Supporting APHA Public Health Policy & Advocacy Efforts
Dr. Jiunn-Jye (JJ) Sheu (MSPH, PhD, CHES), HIIT's Policy Chair, now also serves on the APHA Action Board! He attended his first APHA Action Board meeting in May in Washington, D.C. During the meeting, many policy and advocacy processes were presented and discussed. Each of APHA's priority advocacy areas was presented, and a detailed comparison on health reform legislative issues were also discussed.
Yes, HIIT has been very busy this year, and we are enjoying the challenge. On behalf of HIIT’s leadership, we welcome your participation on this journey towards improving the health of our local, state, national and global communities.
...and, thank you for your continuing interest in HIIT!
Sincerely,
Sandy Worrell, HIIT Chair
sandraworrell@sbcglobal.net
APHA Initiatives on Transportation and Public Health
As we all appreciate, our health is profoundly affected by our transportation decisions and options. Limited opportunities for physical activity, higher exposure to poor air quality, higher incidences of adult and childhood obesity and greater prevalence of asthma and cardiovascular disease are a few of the inequities brought by poor transportation policies. As part of our effort to enhance crosscutting activity and knowledge among various APHA members and sections, APHA is developing advocacy materials and helpful information related to the links between transportation and public health. If anyone is interested in learning more about this initiative, sharing success stories or lessons learned, or establishing a new Forum on Transportation and Public Health, please reach out to us! Interested members are asked to contact Eloisa Raynault at eloisa.raynault@apha.org.
Latest Edition of the Online Public Health Informatics Journal Published
HIIT Collaborates With APHA Member Groups
During the 2009 APHA Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, HIIT co-sponsored a special invited session entitled, “The Challenge of Implementing Electronic Health Records For Practitioners and the Public: Recommendations From APHA Member Groups.”
Participants, and co-sponsors, of this session were: Jeanne A. Matthews, PhD, RN-Public Health Nursing Section, Carolyn Petersen, MS-Genetics Forum, Maile Taualii, PhD-American Indian/Alaska Native/Native Hawaiian Caucus, Steve Godin, PhD, MPH-Community Health Planning & Policy Development Section, Kirk Allison, PhD, MS-Ethics Special Primary Interest Group, Michael Durfee, MD-Family Violence Forum, and Priti Irani, MSPH, and Azzie Young, PhD, MS, MPA, both representing the Community Health Planning & Policy Development Section.
Session moderator was HIIT Chair Sandy Worrell, and session discussant was Joseph Telfair, PhD, of the University of North Carolina (Greensboro) and APHA Executive Board liaison to HIIT.
HIIT thanks each presenter, and co-sponsoring APHA member group, for their participation in this special session. Special thanks to Dr. Telfair for his participation and support, and many thanks to those who attended the sessions – you were a great audience!
APHA Member Group |
IT Challenges/Recommendations |
Public Health Nursing
Jeanne A. Matthews, PhD, RN |
Quality, increased training needs, system failure, security issues, organizational issues (i.e., teamwork), inclusion in EHR systems development process, cost to implement (time & resources), interoperability. |
Genetics Forum
Carolyn Petersen, MS |
Constraints of GINA laws for how genetic data can be used (i.e., cannot be used for various medical purposes, individual health insurance, research); lack of data standards & interoperability; variation of government regulations; human privacy & protection requirements; data stewardship (who owns the data – the patient or the institution?); how to translate genetic knowledge into meaningful public health interventions. |
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American Indian/Alaska Native/Native Hawaiian Caucus
Maile Taualii, PhD |
Lack of a comprehensive data collection system (inadequate data regarding the populations); conflict between ‘mainstream’ priorities (data-driven) and ‘cultural’ priorities (community-based); EHR’s not a priority in a community-based culture; limited resources to develop EHR capability; lack of interoperability; disconnect between federal mandates applied to a ‘sovereign’ population; population is predominately rural; need data to support advocacy by US representatives; reduce the reporting burden; support local control over intellectual property; improve national reporting. |
Community Health Planning & Policy Development Section
Steve Godin, PhD, MPH |
Barriers/Challenges to Successful Implementation of EHR's:
-Organizational financial constraints;
-Staff and/or organizational resistance to change (employees vs. 1099);
-Ineffective organizational leadership;
-Software design/compatibility issues;
-Hardware inefficiency and access issues; and
-Lack of technical support & staff training.
Possible Solutions:
-Need to Include Stakeholders in the Implementation Process
-Involve the physicians in the system design; Use "Physician EMR Champions" during initial planning
-Staff Training in EMR usage is critical..although very difficult and time consuming
-Technical Support 24/7 is another critical factor in successful implementation
-Strong leadership, with vision and strategy
-Effective partnerships between clinical staff (end users), administrative leadership, and IT team
-Thoughtful review of the clinical processes at the given site, and recognition that these processes need standardization, and potential redesign;
-Recognize need for EMR training, staff support, and 24/7 technical assistance.including the use of physician/support staff EMR champions, and representation from various end-users from appropriate departments, and/or types of end users (i.e., nursing; physicians; billing, etc);
-Initial transitions to EMR result in approximately 20% loss in productivity.Thus, enjoy 'honeymoons', and allow end users to assimilate and accommodate the EMR into their clinical routine..don't move too quickly.
Recommendations:
-Move toward a "public access," Uniform Language (in house software architecture downloads into public access system);
-Build EHR systems where health consumers (i.e., what we used to call "patients") access their health record, and are engaged in the health behavior change process. -Consumers need to be a member of the "treatment team."
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Ethics Special Primary Interest Group
Kirk Allison, PhD, MS |
Challenges:
1-Knowledge about an ethics framework and what is needed in an IT environment
-Understanding, and agreeing upon the ‘values’ that can create EHR policy
-Coming to agreement on the scope of PH data to consider from an ethical perspective
-Gatekeeping: what intra and interagency controls are needed by leaders?
-The impact of interagency firewalls on communication and interoperability
-Ethical principles that might drive HIT design
-Equity considerations in rural vs.urban resource distribution
2-The risks to vulnerable populations
Recommendations:
Revisit basic structural-ethical issues (privacy, confidentiality, security, distributive justice/structure), and the impact on vulnerable populations toward the greater the impact in decreasing health disparities. |
Family Violence Forum
Michael Durfee, MD |
Lack of capital and funding to protect medical records for vulnerable populations (i.e., family violence, children with STD’s, foster children).There is a need to connect family violence reports to medical records; the conflict of what to share has been left to line staff in multiple agencies to resolve; the failure to automate makes it difficult to share and easy to avoid disclosure; public health records expand the issue with "confidential" records of STD in toddlers, pre teen pregnancy and hospital discharge records that are displayed in such a way that avoids even the identity of the hospital; records need to protect the identity of kids in foster care. |
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Community Health Planning & Policy Development Section
Priti Irani, MSPH
Azzie Young, PhD, MS, MPA |
-Identify and engage partners at all levels in implementing electronic health records.
-Develop standards for EMR’s for services patients with multiple co-morbidities, special populations (i.e, patients with limited English proficiency) such as culturally and linguistically appropriate services.
-Develop and test strategies for facilitating involvement in health information.
-Let data quality measures by transparent e.g. race/ethnicity can indicate what percentage is being reported.
-Offer training to broader spectrum of public/community health staff on data use.
-Focus at least one Healthy People 2020 objective on measuring meaningful use of EMR and/or PHR data for community health planning. |
Meetings
Dr. Diane L. Adams, HIIT Founder and Chair Emeritus attended the following meetings:
(1) On May 5, 2010, Policy, Technology and Research Development on Mobile Health. Wednesday from 11:30 am to 1:30 p.m., Suite 430, Senate Dirksen Building, Washington, D.C.
(2) On May 14, 2010, Keynote Speaker for the Interagency Committee on Disability Research (ICDR) in Arlington, Va. Dr. Adams' presentation was Current Disparities and Implications in HIT
(3) On June 3, 2010, Using Comparative Effectiveness Research to Improve the Health of Priority Populations, Thursday from 9:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Brookings Institute, JW Marriott, 1331 Penn. Avenue, NW, Washington, D.C.
HIIT 2010 Officers
Chair
Sandra Worrell, MS (Chair, 2009-2010) - sandraworrell@sbcglobal.net
University of Connecticut
(203) 367-5660 (H);(203) 551-3008 (W)
Founder and Chair Emeritus
Diane L. Adams, MD, MPH, CHS-III - dla8315@aol.com
Former Senior Health Policy Fellow & Consultant to the Georgia Centers for Advanced Telecommunications Technology (now known as Center for Advanced Communications Policy)
(301) 570-0387
Chair-Elect
Christopher Williams, MPH, CPEHR,CPHIT cwilliams@eqhs.org
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Vice-Chair
Jiunn-Jye Sheu, PhD, MSPH, CHES - jjsheu@hhp.ufl.edu
University of Florida
Secretary
Tracy Hilliard (PhD Student) - tmhill@u.washington.edu
University of Washington-Seattle
Treasurer
Anjelious P. Farmer, MBA, PMP anjelious@yahoo.com
IBM Software Services for Federal Practice
Parliamentarian
Polly S. Turner, DrPH, MPH - pollyturnerrx@att.net
President, PS Turner Health Administration Consultants
HIIT Governing Council Representative
(1) Brenda A. Leath, MHSA, PMP bal757@verizon.net
National Consortium for African American Children, Inc., Westat
(2) Gloria McNeil, BSN, RN
gloriamcneil@sbcglobal.net
Community Health Nurse Consultant
HIIT 2009 Committee Chairs/Co-Chairs
Alphabetical Order by Category
Awards Chair - Alex Charleston - aac4@cdc.gov
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Community Outreach Chair
Brenda Leath, MHSA, PMP bal757@verizon.net
National Consortium for African American Children, Inc., Westat
Education and Research Chair
Dr. Edward Mensah
dehasnem@uic.edu
University of Illinois – Chicago
Finance Chair
Anjelious P. Farmer, MBA, PMP anjelious@yahoo.com
IBM Software Services for Federal Practice
Membership Chair
Diane L. Adams, MD, MPH, CHS-III dla8315@aol.com
(301) 570-0387
Chung Bang Weng (Student Liaison/Student Assembly) –
cbweng@ufl.edu
University of Florida
Marketing & Public Relations Chair
Donald George djgeorge@mindspring.com
PRISM Communication Systems, Inc.
Nominating Chair
Gloria McNeil, BSN, RN gloriamcneil@sbcglobal.net
Community Health Nurse Consultant
Policy Chair
Dr. Jiunn-Jye Sheu
jjsheu@hhp.ufl.edu
University of Florida
Program Planners
(a)Co-Chair
Jason Goldwater, MA, MPA
Goldwater-jason@norc.org
NORC
(b)Chair
Dr. Diane L. Adams dla8315@aol.com
Strategic Planning Chair
Su-I Hou, DrPH, RN, CHES shou@uga.edu
University of Georgia
Webmasters for APHA
Christopher Williams
cwilliams@eqhs.org
Dr. Diane L. Adams
dla8315@aol.com
Advisory Board
Dr. Dave Potenziani
Dr. Lillian Tom-Orme
Dr. Mike Roco
Dr. Jay Bernhardt
Dr. Edward Mensah
Mr. David Rookard
Ms. Brenda A. Leath
Dr. Polly S. Turner
Newsletter Staff
(a) Editor
Dr. David Potenziani
david_potenziani@unc.edu
University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill
(b) Associate Editor
Dr. Diane L. Adams
dla8315@aol.com
c) Assistant Editor
Dr. Laurie Fitts
lau328@aol.com
South University
(d) Assistant Editor
Dr. Jayfus Doswell
juxtopia@hotmail.com
Juxtopia, LLC
(e) Assistant Editor
Christopher Williams
cwilliams@eqhs.org
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