Tools, Resources, and Examples
for LPH Agencies: Electronic Health Record (EHR) and Health Information Exchange (HIE)

Health Information Exchange Workgroup (SCHSAC)

If you know of a tool or resource for inclusion on this page, please contact Kathy Grantham (kathy.grantham@state.mn.us).

Note: All links on this page will open in new windows.

Jump To:

Public Health Informatics Institute (PHII)


Electronic Health Record Requirements for Public Health Agencies

PHII’s Common Ground

The Institute provided management and technical support to 31 grantees for the Common Ground initiative to help state and local public health agencies better respond to health threats by improving their use of information systems. The goal of Common Ground is to support collaboration among state and local public health agencies in two areas:

  • Analysis and redesign of public health business processes
  • Defining collaboratively a set of information system requirements for technology to strengthen public health agencies

Taking Care of Business

This resource was used in training state and local health agency participants in the Common Ground analysis methodology.

Collaborative Requirements Development Methodology

A nine-minute animated walkthrough of the Common Ground methodology.

< Return to the top of the page

Minnesota Department of Health (MDH)


Office of Information Technology

The MDH Office of Health Information Technology has a number of pages on e-Health, EHRs, and HIE that may be of use in readiness planning for local public health agencies, including the following:

Office of Performance Improvement

The MDH Office of Performance Improvement has resources local public health agencies may find useful when involving quality improvement in their technology and HIE projects:

< Return to the top of the page

Public Health Data Standards Consortium (PHDSC)

The Public Health Data Standards Consortium is a non-profit membership based organization of federal, state and local health agencies; professional associations; academia; public and private sector organizations; international members; and individuals. Our goal is to empower the healthcare and public health communities with health information technology standards to improve individual and community health.

Public Health in Health IT Standardization Resource Center

Starting in May the above page will have a link to a Public Health Needs for HIT Standards online survey for gathering functional requirements for information exchange.

< Return to the top of the page

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation


The mission of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation [Attn: Non-MDH site] is to improve the health and health care of all Americans.

< Return to the top of the page

National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO)


ePublic Health Informatics

NACCHO has a number of initiatives aimed at helping local departments advance the use of informatics at their agency. To learn more, please visit the link above.

NACCHO Toolbox

A free, online collection of local public health tools produced by members of the public health community. For interoperability resources, click the Browse by Keyword tab, then click the Health Information Exchange (HIE) link to view the toolkit resources for that topic. Click the Browse by Toolkit tab to browse all toolkits for the site.

NACCHO Webinars

Archived webinars on topics such as LHDs and Electronic Health Records and What Local Health Departments Need to Know About Meaningful Use.

< Return to the top of the page

Local Public Health Association of Minnesota (LPHA)

< Return to the top of the page

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)


Meaningful Use: Frequently Asked Questions

These FAQs are meant to help answer general questions pertaining to CDC’s role in Meaningful Use. Some of these FAQs answer questions about the public health objectives of Meaningful Use.

Meaningful Use: State and Local Health Departments:
Frequently Asked Questions

The above page answers questions on meaningful use relevant to state and local health departments.

< Return to the top of the page

Stratis Health and Regional Extension Assistance Center for
Health Information Technology (REACH)


Health Information Technology Toolkit for Home Health Agencies

A home health agency toolkit with resources that can be adapted by public health agencies. While the toolkit focuses on preparing for implementation of health information technology, some of the tools are useful in planning for health information exchange (see HIT Toolkit for Home Health: Section 3. Exchange [Attn: Non-MDH site]) or for quality improvement efforts, including webinars on topics such as:

< Return to the top of the page

Cabarrus Health Alliance


Cabarrus Health Alliance, the public health agency for Cabarrus County, North Carolina, has made available documents they developed in the course of identifying and documenting requirements for their public health software system.

Business Process Analysis (BPA)/Business Process Redesign (BPR)

This page has links to download context diagrams, task flow diagrams and forms developed by Cabarrus Health Alliance for a number of their business processes, such as Child Health and Intensive Home Visiting, in PDF format as well as a Visio version that can be edited to fit your agency’s workflow.

Requirements Definition

This page has links to download blank versions of the requirements and data field spreadsheets developed by Cabarrus Health Alliance for use in evaluating software vendors. These blank versions may be modified as needed, and can be used as templates to evaluate other product solutions or given to vendors to complete.

< Return to the top of the page

Sample Requests for Proposals (RFP) and Other Documents
from Minnesota Agencies


Do you have planning or RFP documents related to electronic public health record systems, health information exchange, or process redesign/quality improvement you would be willing to share?

If so, please contact Kathy Grantham (kathy.grantham@state.mn.us).

< Return to the top of the page