title: The long road to semantic interoperability in support of public health: experiences from two states.
abstract: Proliferation of health information technologies creates opportunities to improve clinical and public health, including high quality, safer care and lower costs. To maximize such potential benefits, health information technologies must readily and reliably exchange information with other systems. However, evidence from public health surveillance programs in two states suggests that operational clinical information systems often fail to use available standards, a barrier to semantic interoperability. Furthermore, analysis of existing policies incentivizing semantic interoperability suggests they have limited impact and are fragmented. In this essay, we discuss three approaches for increasing semantic interoperability to support national goals for using health information technologies. A clear, comprehensive strategy requiring collaborative efforts by clinical and public health stakeholders is suggested as a guide for the long road towards better population health data and outcomes.
authors.affiliation: Department of BioHealth Informatics, Indiana University School of Informatics and Computing, Indianapolis, IN, USA; Center for Biomedical Informatics, Regenstrief Institute, Inc., Indianapolis, IN, USA; Center for Health Information and Communication, Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Administration, Health Services Research and Development Service CIN 13-416, Richard L. Roudebush VA Medical Center, 410 W. 10th St., Suite 2000, Indianapolis, IN 46202, USA. Electronic address: bedixon@iupui.edu.
authors.forename: Brian E
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: Dixon
authors.affiliation: Indiana University School of Medicine Indianapolis, IN, Regenstrief Institute, Inc., Indianapolis, IN, USA.
authors.forename: Daniel J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Vreeman
authors.affiliation: Indiana University School of Medicine Indianapolis, IN, Regenstrief Institute, Inc., Indianapolis, IN, USA.
authors.forename: Shaun J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Grannis
mesh_terms: D008490:Medical Informatics; D011634:Public Health; D012660:Semantics
keywords: Infectious disease reporting; Meaningful use; Medical informatics; Public health informatics; Public policy