Understanding Public Health Data Modernization and Informatics

Public health data and surveillance systems are essential to the nation’s public health infrastructure — in day-to-day operations as well as crucial moments that require detecting and responding to emerging health threats. ASTHO is dedicated to supporting its members and health agency staff in advancing crucial data modernization efforts, with comprehensive tools and customized guidance.

What Is Data Modernization?

Data modernization is an effort to improve public health data, technology, workforce capacity, and related processes and policies, with the end goal of having more timely and actionable insights.

In public health, data modernization is a cross-cutting endeavor that supports all public health programs (e.g., environmental health, infectious disease, maternal and child health, etc.) — as safe and secure data collection, management, and sharing are critical to each area’s efforts. It is fundamental infrastructure work that supports an entire health department and connects to a much larger data ecosystem, enabling critical efforts across jurisdictions and sectors.

Why Is Data Modernization Important in Public Health?

Data modernization is important in public health because it mobilizes faster and more complete, accurate data — getting it in the hands of the right people at the right time, from infectious disease specialists responding to an outbreak to chronic disease leaders designing data-driven interventions that promote healthier communities. These people, experts and decision-makers, can then take informed actions to protect the public’s health. When public health data systems are at their best, they can support both public health and health care. Instead of relying on fragmented views of a person or a population’s health (i.e., through different programmatic lenses or health care setting experiences), those on the receiving end of this crucial data can look at individuals and populations as a whole. The reality is that people experience all aspects of health and interface with health systems in many different ways — and when public health or health care professionals are able to connect relevant data from various sources, they can gain a more complete and accurate understanding of individual and population health, ultimately enabling better interventions.

What Are the Key Components of Data Modernization That Enable Modern Data Platforms?

The key components that make modern public health data systems possible include technology, people, policy (legal and organizational), and sustainability.

Technology

An important element is, of course, ensuring and leveraging robust, up-to-date technology. Leveraging modern technology allows agencies to move from manual to automated processes and minimizes the burden on public health and data partners.

People

While the technology is important, the people who manage and use these systems are just as crucial. More specifically, those with the training/skills needed to support data systems and engage with the technologies for faster, more actionable data.

Policy and Process

The policies and processes that guide data collection, management, sharing, and use are additional components of importance in data modernization, including:

• Legal policies that impact public health data reporting, surveillance, and sharing.
• Organizational policies and governance structures that relate to the internal standards, processes, and procedures for handling public health data.

Sustainability

Sustainability is also critical and involves securing ongoing resources — financial and otherwise — to ensure a health department can maintain a modern data infrastructure, rather than relying on isolated, one-time upgrades.

How Does ASTHO Support Public Health Data Modernization?

ASTHO has a dedicated Public Health Data Modernization and Informatics team that is committed to supporting state and territorial health agency leadership in their modernization efforts, enhancing data exchange capabilities, and supporting a sustainable and resilient public health data infrastructure. The team supports public health agencies on their data modernization journeys by:

• Accelerating modern data exchange through cutting-edge health IT standards and offering direct technical implementation services through the Implementation Center Program.
• Managing the Informatics and Data Modernization Network, which facilitates peer-to-peer learning and information sharing about informatics and data modernization activities/opportunities among members.
• Bringing key thought leaders together through the Joint Public Health Informatics Task Force to have meaningful conversations about and align initiatives around data modernization.
• Identifying sustainable funding structures that help health departments accomplish a meaningful data exchange project or infrastructure advancement.
• Providing technical assistance and developing resources (e.g., tactical guides, issue briefs, robust toolkits) around data modernization and informatics.
• Conducting legislative tracking and policy assessments to explore legal and policy considerations influencing public health data and technology.

Working to modernize public health infrastructure in your health agency? ASTHO’s Public Health Data Modernization and Informatics team would love to help. To get started, browse the team’s data modernization resources, and reach out for personalized support.