Dates of Program: May 2006–December 2010

Field of Work: Public Health Informatics

Problem Synopsis: State and local public health agencies need access to timely, accurate, and appropriate information to respond effectively to a range of public health threats. In 2006, when Common Ground was launched, many agencies lacked the ability to collect, store, analyze, and share the information needed for coordinated response to disease prevention and control and large-scale health crises.

Synopsis of the Work: Fifteen agencies received Informatics Capacity grants, relatively modest awards (up to $30,000) that allowed them to analyze their business processes related to a specific public health problem and create a plan for future information management needs. Sixteen larger grants (up to $600,000) were for Requirements Development projects that enabled health departments to define user requirements for information systems focused on chronic disease prevention and control or public health preparedness.

Key Results: Thirty-one state and local public health agencies throughout the country improved their overall performance as well as their information system capacity by applying the Collaborative Requirements Development Methodology (CRDM), a quality improvement approach adapted from industry by the Public Health Informatics Institute.

The Public Health Informatics Institute and an evaluation team from the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) at the University of Chicago reported that:

• Two workgroups identified essential public health business processes, 10 for preparedness and 11 for chronic diseases. The workgroups developed requirements for a subset of those processes, which can be used to inform the purchase, enhancement, or development of information systems.
• Most grantee agencies reported that Common Ground had increased their understanding of business-process analysis.
• Almost all grantees reported process improvements within their health departments, including enhanced capacity to examine business processes and streamline service delivery.

The preparedness team published an article in the American Journal of Public Health describing the preparedness framework: "The Common Ground Preparedness Framework: A Comprehensive Description of Public Health Emergency Preparedness." It is available online.