ONC Highlights Role of Health IT in Public Health Surveillance Amid IPO Filing

As is well known, the development of epidemiology relies on the establishment and automated integration of big data. Therefore, health IT should clearly be part of public health surveillance efforts. With this in mind, the federal Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) recently released an infographic detailing the applications of health IT in syndromic surveillance and electronic public health reporting.

Some of the data in the infographic is impressive. Since 2011, spurred by the “Meaningful Use” incentives for electronic health records, the number of laboratories generating electronic reports from test results and submitting them to public health agencies has surged—a development that the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) certainly welcomes.

Of course, the road ahead remains long. According to data from the American Hospital Association, although more than 1,500 hospitals have electronically transmitted symptom surveillance data to public health agencies, this accounts for barely one-quarter of the 5,700 operating hospitals nationwide in the United States.

Compiled by Chen Xin
Editor: Mo Renying