Public Health Informatics Virtual Event on July 16-18, 2013 – Call for Abstracts!

Connect with colleagues at your own convenience!

This virtual event provides the opportunity to learn and discuss the latest initiatives in public health informatics with attendees from all over the country and internationally. Call for abstracts is now open and will continue until May 31, 2013. This year’s theme is “Strengthening Public Health – Health Care Collaboration.” Abstract submissions are encouraged in the following areas:

1)  Informatics policy and practice: virtual sessions will focus on national and international policy issues and their implications for public health informatics programs; applied informatics projects for programmatic support; and new initiatives

Examples might include:

• ICD-10 CM/PCS –deadline for implementations 10/1/2014
• Meaningful Use & Electronic Health Records
• Interstate data exchange
• Data exchange to support ACOs

2)  Research & Innovation: virtual sessions will focus on informatics research and technological innovation to public health and clinical settings.

Examples might include:

• Applying analytics to new and existing data sources
• Leveraging Big Data for population and public health
• Learning health systems to support integration of primary care and public health
• Novel technologies for population and public health education and communication (mobile, web, social media)

3)  Supporting Public Health Evidence Based through Informatics Practice: virtual sessions will focus on strengthening public health through knowledge sharing, evaluation, visualization and reporting.

Examples might include:

• Evaluation methodologies and findings
• Decision support for population health Health status and performance management dashboards
• Community Health Assessments as part of the community health improvement process
• Return on Investment (ROI) and Value of Information (VOI) analyses for informatics programs and systems

If any of the items above relate to your area of work, do not miss the opportunity to submit an abstract!

Help us get the word out and share this blog post with your colleagues and friends! And if you’re ready to submit an abstract go straight ahead here.

Meeting sponsors include CDC, NACCHO, and ASTHO.

Boston Public Health Commission Leads the Charge in Expanding the Use of Syndromic Surveillance

A few months ago, NACCHO staff made a trip to the Bean City for a visit with the Boston Public Health Commission (BPHC). There we discovered the great work that goes behind Boston’s syndromic surveillance system. BPHC demonstrated their emphasis on community collaboration and leveraging of information sources in creating an excellent model that has informed public policy and community engagement.

Syndromic surveillance systems can use data sources to confirm diseases prior to even receiving the laboratory results. To learn more about the work that BPHC is doing and about syndromic surveillance view the video below.

How is your organization using data sources for effective disease detection?

Share your story in our comment section!