The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has awarded $4.37 million in grants to enhance healthcare information management and to improve the detection of and response to emerging public health threats. The grants will fund four new Centers of Excellence in Public Health Informatics, at Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Indiana University, the University of Pittsburgh, and the University of Utah.
The overall purpose of the initiative is to discover strategies and tools that increase the ability of health departments, physicians, and other healthcare providers to promote health and prevent diseases, injuries, or disabilities. Each center of excellence will conduct two new projects that support national priorities in informatics, and support real-time biosurveillance for potential health threats through immediate access to data from hospitals and healthcare systems in major metropolitan areas.
Five previously funded centers have become national leaders in public health informatics, generating more than 85 peer reviewed publications, 153 presentations at national meetings, and more than 100 posters and abstracts. They also have contributed to strategic national activities such as the Informatics Grid and the Electronic Medical Record Initiative.
