EHR-Based Surveillance Learning Community
Between October 2019 and July 2020, NACDD and the Public Health Informatics Institute hosted a series of learning community calls for health departments and their data partners.
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Learning Community Overview
The electronic health record (EHR)-based Surveillance Learning Community was co-led by NACDD and the Public Health Informatics Institute. It was a series of 60-minute, monthly calls intended for state and local public health departments and their potential data partners including clinical organizations and health information exchanges. The calls focused on relevant topics (e.g., EHR-based surveillance program design and implementation, data analytics) and facilitated discussion and Q & A. The goals of the EHR-based Surveillance Learning Community were to:
- Build public health capabilities to describe and advocate for the MENDS project and other EHR-based surveillance opportunities
- Discuss critical implementation issues such as articulating the rationale, developing a compelling value proposition, securing executive sponsorship, developing effective and inclusive governance, using effective project management and change management methods, and identifying enablers and common barriers
- Enable peer-to-peer learning through webinars and open discussion
- Help NACDD to understand the challenges and and opportunities for growth in EHR-based surveillance and project governance
Call Recordings and Materials
July 2020: Modeling – a continuation of the discussion of Statistical Tools for EHR-based surveillance. The call included an introduction to using modeling to generate surveillance information from EHR data.
Speaker: Tom Chen, Harvard School of Public Health
Presentation Slides | Recording
June 2020: Weighting – a discussion of statistical tools for EHR-based surveillance. The call included an introduction to weighting EHR-based estimates and why this is important for accurate interpretation of EHR data.
Speakers: Emily Kraus, Public Health Informatics Institute; Liza Reifler, Kaiser Permanente Colorado
Presentation Slides | Recording
February 2020: Discussion of Using Case Definitions for EHR-based Surveillance. The call included an introduction to electronic case definitions, using standards and indicators, and creating your own definitions.
Speakers: Hilary Wall, CDC; Dr. Joseph Gibson, Marion County Public Health, Indiana
Speaker Bios | Presentation Slides | Recording
January 2020: The rapid adoption of health information technologies in the U.S. over the past decade has had profound impacts, including increasing accessibility of digital health information for a wide variety of purposes. This call provided an overview of the health information technology landscape in the U.S. and its impact on healthcare, public health surveillance, and population health improvement. It included a presentation by Dr. Noam Arzt, Ph.D., FHIMSS, FAMIA from HLN Consulting, on the state of Health Information Exchanges in the country.
Speakers: Bill Brand, Public Health Informatics Institute; Dr. Naom Arzt, HLN Consulting
Presentation Slides | Recording*
*Start of recording delayed. Review slides for full presentation.
December 2019: Analysis and visualization reporting tools, including a demonstration by Sara Schmidt and Greg Budney of the Colorado Health Observation Regional Data Service’s dashboard and maps. Additionally, Dr. Noelle Cocoros shared options for visualizing EHR data via RiskScape.
Speakers: Bill Brand, Public Health Informatics Institute; Sara Schmitt, Colorado Health Institute; Greg Budney, Denver Public Health; and Dr. Noelle Cocoros, Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute
Speaker Bios | Presentation Slides | Recording
November 2019: Practical tips to help with building support for EHR-based surveillance for chronic disease with Deirdre Browner, from the County of San Diego Health and Human Services Agency, sharing lessons learned from the field. Additionally, the call explored critical success factors to implementing surveillance systems for chronic disease surveillance.
Speakers: Bill Brand and Emily Kraus, Public Health Informatics Institute; Deirdre Browner, County of San Diego Health & Human Services Agency
Presentation Slides | Recording | PHII’s Toolkit for Planning an EHR-based Surveillance Program
October 2019: Presentations on EHR-based Surveillance for Chronic Disease, with an example from the Utah Department of Health and the MENDS Project.
Speakers: Bill Brand and Emily Kraus, Public Health Informatics Institute; Theron Jeppson, Utah Department of Health