CDC Launching Public Health and HIE Initiative

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and its National Center for Public Health Informatics (NCPHI) has announced an initiative which focuses on establishing, managing or enhancing existing HIES in order to "exchange information between clinical care and public health to support public health situational awareness." 

It is anticipated that multiple project contracts will be awarded for a 5-year period to carry out this initiative, beginning on August 31, 2007.  Informational materials on the project state that support will be provided for up to 15 HIEs and that awards will be made to established HIEs in order to identify innovations that improve the operation of information technology systems, facilitate the secure exchange of data and information and train personnel to enhance the operation of the system to integrate public health reporting into the HIE. Awards will also be made to "less established HIEs" for implementation of existing technology, policy and governance rules to integrate public health into the HIE.

For more information on this CDC effort and the related RFP "Accelerating Public Health Situational Awareness through Health Information Exchanges" click here.