The Public Health Informatics Institute, which will provide technical assistance to InformationLinks grantees, presented two tutorial Web conferences on health information exchanges in July and August. To view Health Information Exchanges: Opportunities for Public Health During a Time of Healthcare Transformation and Public Health and Health Information Exchanges: Turning Opportunities into Action, or for more information about InformationLinks, visit
informationlinks.org.

Connections program
analysis is underway
Connections is conducting an analysis of its members' child health information systems integration projects. The analysis will report trends in programs and systems integration among Connections members, as well as integration involving other health care programs and social services in the public and private sectors.

The Connections analysis report will be available this fall. For more information, contact Lorrie Alvin at lalvin@phii.org

Bill Letson, MD
MCH Epidemiologist
Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment

Colorado was awarded a $5 million grant over five years to electronically integrate medical records at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Denver Health and Hospital Authority, The Children's Hospital, and Kaiser Permanente Colorado (private clinics), all in the Denver area. The Agency for Health Research and Quality (AHRQ) made the award in October 2004. To allow data sharing, these health care entities formed the Colorado Health Information Exchange (COHIE) as an initial phase toward expanding into the wider Colorado Regional Health Information Organization (CORHIO).

I learned about this health information exchange initiative through my colleagues Dave Ross and Alan Hinman at the Public Health Informatics Institute. The initiative's potential impact on our child health integration efforts in Colorado became clear after a presentation by Dale Nordenberg at the Connections member meeting in Washington, D.C., last March. [Dr. Nordenberg is the federal lead for Children's Health Information Technology and CIO, Center for Infectious Diseases at the Centers for Disease Control.] I realized that I was going to have to be more proactive in trying to integrate our Newborn Metabolic and Hearing Screening program with the CORHIO. To discuss partnering, I met with the CORHIO's principal investigator, who works at Denver Health and Hospital Authority. [For a summary of the Colorado project, see Colorado NEST project brief below.]

The key to this partnership has been to focus initially on rallying the health care community around a high-profile issue such as immunizations or diabetes. In our case, we chose an asthma surveillance project for metro Denver, which involved public health, health care providers, hospitals, and insurers. This collaboration helped participants develop personal relationships. Now, through negotiations based on those relationships, we are finding it easier to involve public health in the health information exchange collaboration.

For more information
Contact: bill.letson@state.co.us
Web site: www.cdphe.state.co.us
Colorado NEST project brief
COHIE
Colorado Health Institute
AHRQ presentation on CORHIO
Connecting Communities for Better Health, 
Foundation for eHealth Initiative presentation