Public Health Data Modernization Workshop Identifies Critical Needs for Partnerships, Public Policy, Funding and Health Information Exchange

HIMSS and its partners convened 140 people for a Public Health Data Modernization Workshop at the 2024 HIMSS Global Health Conference & Exhibition, where participants discussed the current state of public health data modernization; learned about one another’s needs, challenges and priorities; and forged connections within the public health community and among the public health, healthcare and IT supplier communities. 

The public health community is being tasked with modernizing antiquated data systems and processes, but progress is often limited due to low and unsustainable funding and workforce capacity challenges.  

HIMSS is calling for $36.7 billion in data infrastructure and workforce investments to improve digitization, innovation and standards adoption. Public health agencies and tribal organizations rely on the exchange of health data to perform essential public health functions to prevent disease and improve overall health and wellbeing of the populations they serve.  

The first-of-its-kind Public Health Data Modernization Workshop produced a whitepaper detailing the topic background, key findings and call to action: Perspectives on Public Health Data Modernization: A HIMSS24 Workshop Summary. 

The group identified several critical needs, including: 

• Public health, healthcare and EHR and other IT supplier communities should continue to partner, to communicate effectively and to exchange health information. 

• PHAs, healthcare systems, associations, IT market suppliers and others involved should continue educating policymakers, using data and stories, about the need for sustainable, predictable funding for public health data modernization. 

• ONC-ASTP, CDC, The Sequoia Project and other organizations and entities should continue to educate and provide technical assistance for the public health community on TEFCA’s operations and potential impacts. 

Workshop speakers presented on public health data modernization efforts, and participants shared their perspectives on partnerships between public health and healthcare communities, public policy and funding opportunities to support public health data modernization, as well as how the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement (TEFCA) can support public health information exchange.  

Participants were assigned to small groups based on their discussion topic selection. Each group was diverse by worksite and experience level to foster learning and cross-collaboration. They represented U.S. state and local PHAs and tribal organizations; U.S. national and global nonprofit organizations; ASTP/ONC and CDC; health IT market suppliers such as EHR companies and consultants; healthcare organizations and payers; Canadian provincial governments; and other categories such as academia. 

The workshop was hosted in partnership with the Electronic Health Record Association (EHRA), American Immunization Registry Association (AIRA), Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) and the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE). It was sponsored by HLN Consulting and Amazon Web Services (AWS).