NASTAD (National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors) released a new Health Systems Integration resource, Connections: From Health Informatics to Improved HIV Outcomes. As part of NASTAD’s cooperative agreement with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the issue brief provides governmental public health programs with a foundation for how to leverage health informatics – including public and private insurance claims data and electronic health records (EHRs) – for public health action. The brief is designed to highlight the tools and capacities of public health informatics to:
- Augment surveillance efforts
- Improve care coordination
- Enhance linkage to- and retention in care for people living with HIV
- Assess the utilization of services provided outside of health departments
The ability to navigate sophisticated claims databases, execute data-sharing agreements with new entities, and adhere to privacy protections for patient information is essential to modernize health department programs and ultimately improve HIV outcomes. As NASTAD moves to operationalize the end of HIV and hepatitis, it is imperative to develop data strategies and tools to improve services and care. This brief will help guide public health programs towards building public health informatics capacity.
Please contact Kelsey Donnellan with any questions.
