CDC awarded $4.37 million in grants to advance healthcare information management and to improve the detection and response to emerging public health threats. The grants will fund four new Centers of Excellence in Public Health Informatics at Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Indiana University, the University of Pittsburgh, and the University of Utah. The goal is to find strategies and tools to help health departments, physicians, and other healthcare providers to promote health and prevent diseases, injuries, or disabilities.
Each Center will conduct two new projects to support national priorities in informatics and support real-time biosurveillance for potential health threats. Immediate access will be available at hospitals and health care systems in major metropolitan areas across the U.S.
Researchers at Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, in Boston will integrate EHRs and personal health records to support chronic diseases as it relates to public health. Indiana University in Indianapolis will study how to integrate health information exchange methodology across private and public health domains. The University of Pittsburgh is going to work on detecting and characterizing diseases and outbreaks as quickly as possible. The University of Utah in Salt Lake City building on previous research project with CDC will address decision support needed for disease control.
According to CDC, five previously funded centers have generated over 85 peer reviewed publications, 153 presentations at national meetings, and more than 100 posters and abstracts. The Centers have also contributed to the Informatics Grid and the electronic Medical Record Initiative.
