Project

Public Health Data Improvement

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Public Health Data Improvement
State and local public health officials need timely, comprehensive health data from hospitals, doctors’ offices, and clinical labs to detect and respond to disease hot spots, contaminated food and water, and populations experiencing inequitable health outcomes, such as higher rates of environmentally triggered conditions like asthma.

Doctors’ offices and hospitals in the United States log about a billion patient visits each year, generating data on diseases, injuries, and treatment outcomes. This information can inform the work of public health officials, helping them save lives and improve the overall health of their communities. Unfortunately, public health agencies often don’t receive critical information from health care providers—and, even when they do, they may not have all the tools they need to analyze the data and take action.

Even when cases are reported, important data such as patients’ race, ethnicity, or contact information is often missing, meaning that officials can’t track the impact of diseases on different communities or conduct activities to slow the illnesses’ spread. As demonstrated during the coronavirus pandemic, many health departments still receive critical information via faxes and phone calls, not electronically—an approach that delays analysis and response time. Improving these systems is vital to supporting vibrant, healthy communities throughout the country, and to preparing for future public health crises.

Pew conducts research, provides technical assistance, and advocates for policies, resources, and public health department practices to enable the rapid and effective use of health care data to advance Americans’ well-being.

Specifically, Pew works to:

  1. Advocate for state and federal policies requiring that electronic health record systems automatically send standardized patient data to health agencies.
  2. Build the evidence base to demonstrate the benefits of improving electronic data sharing for public health.
  3. Research and share best practices to help public health agencies analyze and effectively use health care data.
Water supplies
Water supplies
Article

Improved State and Federal Data Policies Are Needed

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Article

For 17 months from 2014 into 2015, residents of Flint, Michigan, faced potential lead poisoning after the city changed its source of drinking water. By one estimate, as many as 140,000 people—including as many as 12,000 children—may have been exposed to water with dangerously high levels of lead.

ER Productions Limited
ER Productions Limited
Article

Medicare Pushes to Share Public Health Data Electronically

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A final rule released Nov. 1 by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) encourages eligible clinicians to electronically report data on patient health conditions to state and local health departments. The changes could help those agencies launch more effective responses to emerging crises. The rule, which takes effect Jan. 1, sets new requirements for how providers should engage with public health agencies, offers them greater financial incentives to report data, and expands data-sharing requirements to include other groups of clinicians.

Unsplash
Unsplash
Article

Improve Data Exchange Practices to Promote Public Health

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As state health departments continue their COVID-19 vaccination efforts and work to halt the virus’s spread, a lack of critical data undermines their ability to effectively accomplish either task, a reality that could prolong the pandemic.

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