Early Hearing Detection & Intervention Interoperability Pilot Site Project

Project Results: To view the PowerPoint presentation from CHIIC's August 2015 meeting, click here.

Project Status: Completed

Point of Contact: Xidong Deng

Center: NCBDDD

Keywords: Surveillance, Interoperability Standards, ONC S&I Framework, EHR, Data Quality

Project Description: This project supports ongoing efforts towards advancing the capability of state-based public health programs to exchange electronic data with health care partners for improved availability, quality, and timeliness of surveillance data. The Early Hearing Detection and Intervention Information Systems (EHDI-IS) are state-based public health tracking and surveillance systems capable of collecting and reporting hearing screening, diagnostic, and early intervention data. The goal of this project is to enhance the existing EHDI-IS and the EHDI surveillance processes through standardization and to advance effective use of emerging Electronic Health Record (EHR) interoperability technologies in public health.

We propose partnering with the Public Health Informatics Institute (PHII) and the Oregon Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) program to conduct a pilot implementation of the new EHR interoperability approaches, as described in the Office of the National Coordinator of Health IT’s (ONC) Standards and Interoperability (S&I) Framework. Information obtained during this pilot will be used to inform future implementations and standards development. The proposed strategies and activities in this project are designed to build on national efforts to standardize health care information and to foster awareness, partnerships, and collaboration between health care data sharing partners and public health agencies at the local, state, and national levels in developing Health Information Technology (HIT) standards for exchange with clinical EHR systems.

Impact: CDC’s EHDI program is one of the most active public health domain areas in the development and testing of national standards for the exchange of information between public health and health care. This project will advance efforts to translate these accomplishments to increase the capability for information exchange between state public health programs and their clinical partners. Expected benefits include demonstrating how EHR and EHDI-IS interoperability can enhance the EHDI tracking and surveillance processes with improved data quality and availability obtained through a more efficient data collection and transport mechanism. Oregon’s EHDI program is a leader in EHR interoperability efforts and has a proven track record of implementing the HIT message and exchange standards described in the S&I Framework and used by clinical entities for health care delivery. In addition, Oregon’s resources include a partner hospital it has previously worked with on interoperability projects. As a result of this pilot, both the program and the hospital will demonstrate improvements in efficiency and data quality assurance to the greater public health community.

Methodology: The proposed project activities are intended to engage relevant stakeholders from state EHDI programs, clinicians, HIT standards development organizations, HIT vendors, and federal agencies to advance the collecting and reporting of EHDI surveillance data and to facilitate electronic exchange of standardized healthcare information for improved developmental outcomes in children. Partners will include the PHII and the Oregon Health Authority to conduct a pilot implementation of the standards developed by the ONC S&I Framework Structured Data Capture (SDC) Initiative. The SDC standards will facilitate the collection of surveillance data in such a way that any reporting entity can access and interpret the data in electronic format and will help reduce the data collection burden on health care providers by enabling secure, single-point data entry that populates to multiple systems. The Oregon Health Authority’s EHDI program is well positioned to participate in this high profile national initiative and has the essential resources and expertise to build upon its existing public health surveillance and clinical care infrastructures to implement a high quality process by which EHR data is captured, stored and shared.

Scalability: Experience and lessons learned from the proposed project can be applied to other national and state public health surveillance programs’ efforts to integrate public health information systems with clinical EHR systems and to inform future standards development and system implementation initiatives.

Measure of Successes: Currently, no state EHDI program has integrated their information systems with the EHR systems of their clinical partners as described by the S&I Framework’s Structured Data Capture (SDC) approach. By completion of this pilot, one (1) state EHDI program will demonstrate integration of their information systems with the EHR systems of their clinical partners and serve as a model for implementation by other public health programs.

For more information about this project, please contact the CHIIC at chiic@cdc.gov or Brian Lee at brian.lee@cdc.hhs.gov.