Signing Off from the Public Health Informatics Conference
The Public Health Informatics 2011 Conference has come to a close in Atlanta, where over 1,000 people attended in person, and 1,600 more joined the conversation online through the Virtual Conference. One theme throughout the conference was making new connections – connections from EHRs to public health surveillance systems, from public health departments to health care and social services, and more. Different technical systems need to be able to work together, which requires standards and ways to bridge different terminologies.
That goes for making IT systems interoperable, but the same is also true for making connections between different fields, which often seem to speak a different language. Coming together at a conference like Public Health Informatics is certainly a step in the right direction.
Here are some highlights from NewPublicHealth coverage of the conference this week:
- Dr. Farzad Mostashari, Director of the National Coordinator of Health Information Technology in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services comments on the enormous potential for meaningful use to impact public health.
- Local health departments share how they put the “public” back in public health by collaborating directly with folks from their communities to plan for emergencies and tell public health stories through social media.
- Health departments find ways to integrate health and social services on very little budget, so there can be “no wrong door” to access a multitude of services, from food stamps to flu shots.
- Conference attendees tell their stories on using technology to support public health – from monitoring pregnancy risks across the country to bringing disease surveillance systems to former Soviet countries
All of the content captured during the live event that was not made available during the conference will be be re-released September 7, 2011 at the Virtual Conference site, thanks to conference co-sponsors the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Association of County and City Health Officials. When posted, many of the sessions will then feature a live chat with the speakers. All of the plenaries, sessions, videos, downloads and other materials will be available on this site for 3 months.
Catch up on the rest of the NewPublicHealth coverage of the Public Health Informatics Conference here.
