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Applied Informatics Team Training 2018

Amanda Masters, Director of Workforce Development at CSTESarah New, EpidemiologistCynthia Yen, EpidemiologistValerie Goodson, Workforce and Fellowship Coordinator at CSTEJessica Arrazola, Director of Educational Strategy at CSTENancy Barrett, Epi 4/PH Informatics SpecialistErin Holt, TDHRita Altamore, EpidemiologistNatalie Marzec, Zoonotic Disease Unit Manager, CO DPHEKathy Turner, Deputy State Epidemiologist at IDTracy MillerElandis Miller, CSTEPeter Krombach, Health Informatics EpidemiologistAlastair MathesonRosie Glenn-Finer, California Perinatal Hepatitis B Prevention Program Coordinator +75 others
Posted by Kelley Chester ·

Webinar 1 - Case Analysis #2

As part of yesterday's webinar I would like to pose an additional question for you all to consider and comment on.  Please review and comment.  Also, if a situation similar to this has happened in your agency, please tell us about your experience and what were your lessons learned.

Scenario: As a program leader, you recognize that there are many areas of the agency collecting similar data.  All of this data is stored in many disparate systems.  As a leader you would like to see data shared across the programs to reduce inefficiencies.  What are some of the first steps that you would take to make this happen?

** Remember to comment on this thread and avoid starting a new discussion post.  Thanks!

Comments & Events

Natalie Marzec, Zoonotic Disease Unit Manager, CO DPHE Natalie Marzec, Zoonotic Disease Unit Manager, CO DPHE
This is the problem that the Colorado team is focusing on for our project!

The idea of an intradivisional data dashboard was presented to managers within the division for their buy-in. Since our team has been established we have been talking to leadership in the various programs in our division to determine what their data release policies are and how they would be willing to share their data intra-divisionally. We have spoken with division leadership to determine what kinds of intradivisional data would be more useful to them. We have been discussing the different ways our various surveillance systems collect data and how we can best present the data. Going forward we are working on a Tableau visualization that can be accessed by division staff that gives a basic overview of diseases and demographics across the division’s programs.
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Nancy Barrett, Epi 4/PH Informatics Specialist Nancy Barrett, Epi 4/PH Informatics Specialist
I would conduct a survey of the different data systems (if there isn't already a list of the data systems) to collect basic information on each one. I would get management support to establish a small working group to start asking programs what data would they like access to that is outside of their "ownership" and for what public health purpose? How will they use this data -- to augment their data already being collected? To combine data in some sort of data analysis? for what audiences (in-house, other agencies, feds, residents of the state). Identify some other goals/needs -- is the point to streamline the collection of data? Is it to share the data efficiently to those who need it? Who are the audience(s) you want to share data with? I would determine an initial pilot project, e.g., getting vaccination data from the immunization registry into the primary disease surveillance system. Define the problem (use case). Identify any data differences or lack of standardization that needs to be addressed. Convene the technical folks to determine how data can be shared. 
I think the approaches are different if you are looking to build a MPI, vs a data warehouse, vs combining data into a BI tool for visualization.
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Sarah New, Epidemiologist Sarah New, Epidemiologist
California's input is as follows:

  • Investigate whether previous workgroups or initiatives aimed at creating a central data warehouse to house data from different programs have existed (this would prevent one from recreating the wheel).
  • Identify contacts in each program and form a workgroup. Outline how programs are currently storing and sharing data.
  • Identify the data elements required by all parties and identify common elements for data linkages.
  • Define legalities of data sharing, which would include identifying other meaningful use and data sharing agreements that already exist between internal and external agencies.
And....
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Kelley Chester Kelley Chester
Thanks for the input.  It's interesting that this question corresponds with CDPHE's project focus... thanks for sharing your ideas Natalie. 

Would anyone else like to chime in?
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Michelle Barber, Interoperability Director Michelle Barber, Interoperability Director
This scenario is similar to one that we faced in Oregon several years ago when we decided to integrate our system for acute and communicable diseases with STD, HIV, and TB. This was both a relationship as well as a utilitarian issue. We worked together and considered the advantages/disadvantages of joining forces. Issues around who would go “first”, how modules were designed, and a phased roll-out plan were all considered. We had such success with our collaborative effort that non-communicable disease programs (blood lead reporting and animal bites) asked to be part of our system because the value and efficiencies gained. We continue to expand and are now faced with a different problem: what happens when the system has become so “efficient” that programs lose the nuance that they had in their siloed system? Figuring out how to modularize is as important as figuring out how to harmonize. We suspect there is no “one-size-fits-all” approach, and that as time, resources, needs, and personnel flex, the system you select should be able to flex as well.
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