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Advances in information technology have made it easier to communicate health care information rapidly. DACP is recognized as a national leader in public health informatics. DACP’s sophisticated programs in this area have allowed public health officials and researchers to monitor clinical data in order to protect the public from the spread of illness or unsafe clinical treatments.
DACP leads the Centers for Disease Control-sponsored Center for Excellence in Public Health Informatics, in partnership with other Boston-based medical institutions. The Center is working on two fronts. One is to improve and simplify doctors’ and nurses’ reporting of information that public health officials need to identify and ensure proper follow-up of people with conditions like tuberculosis and infectious hepatitis. This work complements work already performed to identify unusual clusters of respiratory and other illnesses that could represent bioterrorism episodes or an influenza epidemic. The Public Health Informatics Center is also developing personally controlled health records, which will allow individuals to control their own health information and share it with public health agencies if they wish to do so.
DACP’s Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD) project uses electronic data from eight health plans to evaluate the safety of new vaccines in large populations under real-life practice conditions. The VSD project includes approximately two percent of the entire U.S. population and provides the statistical power to study serious complications that can result from the use of new vaccines.
Center of Excellence in Public Health Informatics
Richard Platt
Eastern Massachusetts Prevention Epicenter
Richard Platt
The Vaccine Safety Datalink Project - Using population-based data to ensure the safety of vaccines
Tracy Lieu
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