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Public Health Informatics and Information Systems pp 47–66Cite as

Governmental and Legislative Context of Informatics

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Part of the book series: Health Informatics ((HI))

Abstract

The Institute of Medicine has identified three core functions of public health that recognize the importance of timely and accurate information and are central to contemporary public health practice: assessment of population health, policy development, and assurance of the availability of high-quality public health services [1]. Others have noted that an information infrastructure is considered to be central to those functions [2]. Historically, federal funding for public health information systems was both limited and categorical, leading to non-standardized, non-interoperable, disease-specific applications that were difficult for state and local health departments to support and maintain. However, the terrorist events of 2001 led to the largest federal investment in public health infrastructure since World War II [3].

Over the past two decades, the term public health informatics has been used to describe the intersection of public health and information technology [4]. The purpose of this chapter is to describe the emergence and evolution of public health informatics policy, which began to develop in the mid to late 1990s, accelerated after the terrorist events of 2001, and came into new prominence when the public health objectives in Stage 2 meaningful use rules were released in September 2012. The chapter begins with a review of the fundamentals of the public policy process and the government, legal, and regulatory framework for public health informatics. It then describes the policy environment for public health informatics, showing how large-scale public events and public-private collaboration and leadership from professional organizations helped to move the policy process forward by increasing transparency and investments in public health information infrastructure. The chapter closes with a look forward to future policy issues at the national level.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Evidence Generation and Translation, Academy Health, 1150 17th St., NSW, Suite 600, Washington, DC, 20036, USA

    Margo Edmunds PhD

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  1. Margo Edmunds PhD
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Correspondence to Margo Edmunds PhD .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medical Informatics, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, Oregon, USA

    J.A. Magnuson

  2. Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Torrance, California, USA

    Paul C. Fu, Jr.

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Edmunds, M. (2014). Governmental and Legislative Context of Informatics. In: Magnuson, J., Fu, Jr., P. (eds) Public Health Informatics and Information Systems. Health Informatics. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-4237-9_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-4237-9_4

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