Purpose

This project (September 2005-May 2006) collaboratively defined a set of business processes of local health departments (LHDs) as a first step in defining information system requirements that meet a majority of individual LHD needs.

 

Project summary

Local health departments across the country struggle to develop information systems that meet their daily operational needs, let alone provide interconnectivity to state departments of health, meet emerging data and communications interoperability standards established by other state and federal agencies, and interconnect with the health care delivery sector. To achieve a long-term, shared strategy of interoperable LHDs requires a formal process to collaborate on defining information system requirements that meet a majority of individual agency needs. Collaborative requirements development (business process analysis and redesign, followed by requirements definition) is a cost-effective and rational approach to enabling LHDs to tailor a pre-established set of requirements that comply with all existing national standards to meet their needs.

This project was a collaboration of work group participants representative of LHDs across the country, the Public Health Informatics Institute (the Institute), the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO), and its Informatics Committee. Guided by the Institute’s structured collaborative requirements development methodology, the work group participants project defined a representative sample of the business processes for LHDs. The 10 Essential Public Health Services and the Operational Definition of a Functional Local Health Department provided the starting point for the project.

The project produced described nine business processes, using standard business process analysis tools, such as context and task flow diagramming, and other tools that they developed to assist them in identifying the business processes and tasks of LHDs. They gained confidence in their skills such that many of them were able to teach the skills to their own LHD staffs, who then analyzed and redesigned business processes in their LHD areas. A report describes the project and its outcomes, and includes context diagrams for the nine business processes and a glossary of terms related to the collaborative requirements development methodology.

This project demonstrated that common understanding of the business processes of LHDs can be achieved through a collaborative approach. Public health agencies grasped the idea that business process analysis acts as a stimulus for quality improvement and leads to transformation of public health performance. They understand that, for information systems to support the objectives of public health agencies, the activities must be defined at the business process level and understood by all who participate in the processes. The growing recognition and understanding of business processes analysis provides the springboard for quality improvement and consistent performance management for effective health information systems.

Client and funding source

This project is supported by a grant to the Public Health Informatics Institute from The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.