Indiana Center of Excellence in Public Health Informatics

The Indiana Center of Excellence in Public Health Informatics (ICEPHI) is a collaboration between Indiana University, the Regenstrief Institute, the Indiana Statement Department of Health, and the Marion County Health Department (just to name a few).  Funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2009 as one of only four national centers, ICEPHI is a collaboration of multidisciplinary researchers and public health practitioners with a goal of advancing public health informatics by developing a robust infrastructure.  The collaborative includes:  Executive Advisory Group (Steering Committee), Clinical Informatics Data Analytic Core, Geospatial and Community Data Analytic core, and Grants Development Core.

In today's world, public health faces new difficult challenges such as bioterrorism, emerging infections, and antibiotic-resistant organisms.  Regenstrief Institute public health informatics is there to guide the way -- a systematic application of information and computer science and technology to public health practice, research, and learning.

Automated Electronic Lab Reporting and Case Notification

Using a standards-based messaging and vocabulary infrastructure that includes Health Level Seven (HL7) and Logical Observation Identifiers Names and Codes (LOINC), the Regenstrief biomedical informatics implemented and maintains an HIE-based, automated electronic lab reporting (ELR) and case-notification system for over ten years.  The Notifiable Condition Detector (NCD) receives more than 350,000 real-time HL7 version 2 clinical transactions daily, including laboratory studies, diagnoses, and transcriptions from hospitals, national labs and local ancillary service organizations.  In 2008, the system detected and delivered more than 120,000 reportable clinical results to local and state public health agencies.

First, this sytem satisfies the state reporting mandates for many conditions.  Second, it serves as an automated trigger to initiate the public health case management process.  Third, the lab data can be used to automatically complete case reporting forms, which the provider can then complete.  This system demonstrated a greater than four-fold detection rate over traditional physician-based reporting methods.