Mission and strategic Action plan

Mission Statement | Our Niche | Our Activities | Projects | Services | Consortium Program Committees | Revenues | Governance | Our Membership Structure

Mission Statement

The Public Health Data Standards Consortium (PHDSC) committed to bring a common voice from the public health community to the national efforts of standardization of health and healthcare information.

To fulfill its mission the Consortium will:

• Promote the integration Promote the integration of health-related data systems to meet the health data needs of public and private organizations, agencies and individuals;

• Represent public health interests (state and local agencies and research communities) in the on-going processes of the development and implementation of national healthcare standards by involvement in the activities of the existing clinical, administrative, and other relevant data standards development and content organizations;

• Identify priorities for the development and implementation of new national data standards for population health, including standardization of environmental, socio-cultural, economic and other data relevant to population health;

• Educate public health community about standards and standard development community about public health data needs; and

• Participate in the international efforts on standardization of health-related information.

Our Niche

The Consortium is a standards oriented organization focused on representing the public health community at the principal standards development organizations and promoting the use of data and systems standards by the public health community. The Consortium works with standards development organizations (e.g., Health Level (HL7), X12) and data content committees (e.g., National Unified Content Committee (NUCC) and National Unified Billing Committee (NUBC)) to implement existing standards, to modify those standards to meet the needs of public health and research and, where appropriate, to develop new standards. The Consortium is a member of the national Healthcare Information Technology Standards Panel (HITSP). This is done in conjunction with a wide array of public health organizations and their partners, with the goal of achieving a common voice whenever possible. While the Consortium is not an ANSI-accredited Standard Development Organization, we supplement the activities of those organizations by educating the public health community about standards and standards development organizations about public health data needs.

Our Activities

Representing public health interests in the:

• National standards harmonization process at the national Healthcare Information Technology Standards Panel (HITSP);

• Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) process on privacy, confidentiality and data sharing;

• Standards development process at Health Level Seven (HL7), Accredited Standards Committee (ASC) X12, National Uniform Billing Committee (NUBC), and National Uniform Claim Committee (NUCC);

Promoting

• Interoperability between public health and clinical systems via integration of the clinical Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems and the public health systems for regional health information exchanges;

• Standardized collection and management of data within public health programs and systems integration between programs;

Providing information on health data standards for clinical and public health communities via the Web-based Resource Center.

Projects

The PHDSC is an umbrella organization for conducting research and development projects that are consistent with its mission including the following:

• Development of the EHR implementation demonstration projects in public health;

• Development of implementation guides to facilitate implementation of public health data standards;

• Development of Web-based educational materials to promote and educate the public health practitioners and researchers about public health data standards and standards development community about public health data needs.

Services

The Consortium provides services for its members and other interested entities that are consistent with its Mission including:

• Organization of professional meetings;

• Organization of training sessions;

• Publication of newsletters and other materials relevant to the activities of the Consortium.

Consortium Program Committees

Data Standards Committee

The Data Standards Committee coordinates data standards activities for the Consortium through the following four Sub-Committees:

• Sub-Committee on Health Care Services Data Reporting Guide facilitated the development of a national Standard Implementation Guide for Reporting Health Care Services Data utilizing the ANSI Accredited Standards Committee (ASC) X12 837 health care claims transaction set standard. The Sub-Committee is redirecting its efforts to maintaining and updating the Guide to reflect future business needs and to promoting its implementation.
   

• Sub-Committee on Payer Typology developed and maintains a payer typology to allows for consistent reporting of payer data to public health agencies for health care services and research.
   

• Sub-Committee on External Cause of Injury Codes (ECIC) is working on developing an educational strategy on the importance of external causes of injury codes reporting from the emergency rooms chief complaint data to the state and local health agencies.

Nationwide Health Information Network (NHIN) Committee

The focus of the NHIN Committee is to foster awareness, partnerships and collaboration at the local, state and national levels in the development of the regional health information exchanges. The Committee members developed the formal Response to the Request for Information from the DHHS Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology on the Development and Adoption of a National Health Information Network.

Privacy, Security and Data Sharing (PSDS) Committee

The PSDS Committee is working on the development of educational resources for state and local health agencies on privacy and security issues related to HIPAA and NHIN implementation.

Communication and Outreach Committee

Committee is responsible for overseeing development of the PHDSC's Web-based Resource Center (WRC) as a vehicle for disseminating information on public health data standards. Committee maintains PH-Consortium-L listserv to facilitate discussion on public health data standardization issues.

Revenues

Revenues to support the Consortium's activities are generated by membership dues, grants and contracts for research and development projects and services.

Governance

The Consortium activities are directed by the Board of Directors that consists of representatives from member-organizations. Board of Directors is elected at the annual meeting. Daily activities of the Consortium are performed by the Executive Director appointed by the Board of Directors

Our Membership Structure

The Consortium represents stakeholders with an interest in health information technology:

PHDSC Membership Classes

• Federal Agencies

• State and Local Government Agencies

• Professional Membership Organizations (i.e., National Associations)

• Other Professional Organizations (i.e., Regional Consortia, Academic Institutions, RHIOs) and Non-Profit Organizations

• For-Profit Organizations

• Individual Members

Within each membership class (except for For-Profit Organizations and Individual Members), there are two membership categories: Contributing Member and General Member.

Contributing Members are the organizations that share the Consortium mission and are interested in participating in the Consortium’s activities; they pay higher fees than General Members. The Contributing Members designate its representative to the Board of Directors.

General Members are the organizations that share the Consortium mission and are interested in participating in the Consortium’s activities; they pay the General Membership fee. General Members elect representatives to the Board of Directors among other general members in their membership class.

For-Profit Organization Members are the organizations that share the Consortium mission and are interested in participating in the Consortium’s activities; membership dues for the For-Profit Organization membership class are based on the organization’s healthcare revenues. For-Profit Organization Members elect representatives to the Consortium’s Board of Directors.

Individual Members are individuals that share the Consortium mission and are interested in participating in the Consortium’s activities; they pay the Individual Membership fee. Individual Members do not have representation on the Board of Directors.

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