Health and Medicine Policy Research Group is an independent non-profit policy center that conducts research, educates, and collaborates with others to advocate for policies and impact health systems to improve the health status of all people. In 2006, Health & Medicine began an initiative that convened a broad group of health care safety net stakeholders in northern Illinois (those institutions that provide health services to uninsured, Medicaid, and other vulnerable populations) to determine priorities and recommendations for strengthening the safety net.
One priority that was identified was the necessity for all health care institutions to use electronic health records and be connected through a health information exchange. It was also determined that connecting medical data to public health data and data for the social determinants of health (such as education, social services, housing and employment status) would play a critically important role in the public health community’s ability to improve the health status of all.
We are pleased that the IL HIE Strategic and Operational
Plan includes a strong emphasis on public health and that a Public Health
Advisory Committee will continue to meet as HIE planning ends and
implementation begins. Health &
Medicine hosted a forum in early 2010 calling for the inclusion of broad public
health data elements in the HIE plan, as well as data for behavioral health,
case management, and nursing services.
While we laud your efforts to include the public health community, we
want to ensure that the public health data elements, including the social
determinants of health, are linked to the medical data through the HIE. For example, asthma and lead poisoning rates
could be linked to housing data, which would help public health professionals
more effectively target prevention and treatment initiatives.
We look forward to the inclusion of public health in IL’s HIE. We encourage the State to remember that the health status of our residents is determined by more than their medical services, and that in order for us to comprehensively improve our health status, we must have current, timely information on the factors that most affect our health on a day to day basis.
Sincerely,
Margie Schaps, Executive Director
Janna Stansell, Policy Analyst
Quentin D. Young, Chairman
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