informatics
Building a Digital Bridge
by Rachel Shepherd, associate specialist, Informatics
In an immense collaboration between
public health entities, systems vendors,
public health agencies and healthcare
providers, APHL has joined a national
effort to develop a systematic, widespread
and sustainable approach to using
national electronic health record data to
improve public health surveillance. This
“Digital Bridge” requires coordination
from all facets of public health, with
the ultimate goal of revolutionizing the
way healthcare providers and public
health jurisdictions communicate.
A Solid Foundation
Currently, when someone visits their
healthcare provider and displays signs
of a notifiable condition—pertussis, for
instance—the provider must report the
suspected case to the health department,
where that data is tracked for outbreak
prevention. This reporting process
is done manually through a series
of forms filled out and submitted by
the provider. Through electronic case
reporting, the Digital Bridge intends
to convert this type of one-directional
report into an automated and
multifaceted bi-directional dialogue.
To start, systems vendors are working
with healthcare providers to enhance
infrastructure so that when a physician
updates a patient’s chart, their electronic
health rec