The Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO), National Network of Public Health Institutes (NNPHI), and Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB) have launched an Implementation Center Program to support public health agencies as they modernize their data systems. CRISP Shared Services, Guidehouse, and Mathematica were chosen to serve as the three Implementation Centers.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provided $255 million in funding through the Public Health Infrastructure Grant (PHIG) for the program, which will provide tailored support and technical implementation services to accelerate adoption of the latest health information technology standards for data exchange.
“Fast and reliable sharing of data between healthcare, public health, and among public health authorities is key to our ability to detect and respond to new and emerging threats, improve health outcomes, and promote health equity,” says Jennifer Layden, M.D., Ph.D., director for CDC’s Office of Public Health Data, Surveillance, and Technology, in a statement. “These Implementation Centers will provide direct support to health departments to adopt new technology and data standards to better connect healthcare data into the public health ecosystem. This means more complete, secure, and faster sharing of data to inform public health actions.”
The Implementation Center Program builds upon previous investments made through PHIG, a federal investment supporting U.S. infrastructure needs and will expand the number of public health agencies eligible to receive support. The goal of the program is to reduce the burden on public health agencies, health care systems and providers, labs, and other data providers to seamlessly exchange information for rapid detection of and response to health threats.
“In addition to accelerating data exchange for public health action, the Implementation Center Program is a transformative opportunity to innovate the public health, healthcare, lab, and technology sectors data pipeline. Our future data ecosystem cannot look the same as it did during the COVID pandemic,” says J.T. Lane, M.P.H., ASTHO’s senior vice president of population health and innovation, in a statement. “ASTHO is thrilled to be partnering with NNPHI and PHAB with the support of CDC to bolster the public health informatics workforce; strengthen data systems, processes and policies; and deploy scalable, flexible, and sustainable technologies.”
As an Implementation Center, CSS will be responsible for ensuring health departments adopt and demonstrate successful use of the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement (TEFCA) and other data exchange initiatives, such as electronic case reporting, for public health purposes. CSS will provide end-to-end technical support as they work to implement modern health information technology standards for high-quality data exchange.
“The disparity across health departments and healthcare organizations continues to compound barriers to accessing the data needed to improve key health priorities,” said Craig Behm, president and chief executive officer of CSS, in a statement. “We believe everyone deserves an infrastructure that can unify the healthcare ecosystem to better serve patients.”
