Copyright © Utah Department of Health ~ State of Utah ~ All rights reserved.
Updated: Wed, 20 Feb 2008 02:35:28 MST
Updated: Wed, 20 Feb 2008 02:35:28 MST
IBIS-PH AcknowledgmentsACTION2000HI-IQ MatCHIIM IBIS-PH IBIS-PH Contributors The IBIS-PH system has evolved over the past decade. The following chronology acknowledges all the major developments and the generous help we've had along the way. First, it must be said that the present and past executive management of the Utah Department of Health (UDOH), David N. Sundwall, Scott D. Williams, Rod L. Betit, A. Richard Melton, and Allen Korhonen, have been extremely supportive of all the activities listed on this page. Their interest and support has been necessary for the project's successes to date. In addition to, or perhaps because of, values personified by UDOH executive management, the UDOH has an organizational culture that values empirical evidence and is open to innovation and advancements in evidence-based decision-making. ACTION2000 (1994-1999)In 1994, Utah developed its first query system. The Office of Surveillance and Analysis had recently been created with funding from the CDC Assessment Initiative (LaDene Larsen in the UDOH Bureau of Chronic Disease authored the grant application, and Ken Keppel was the project officer for the AI grant). The office was also partially funded by the CDC Preventive Services Block Grant, and still receives support from that grant program at this writing. Dr. Catherine Schumacher, M.D., M.S.P.H. was hired to direct the office, and Dr. Robert T. Rolfs, M.D., M.P.H. was assigned to Utah from the CDC to assist with the grant activities. The query system, named ACTION2000 (Assessment Capacity Through an Interactive On-line Network for the year 2000), used a SAS data engine and had a DOS-based, line-editor interface. Registered users had to dial in to the system over a modem connection, and log-in using a userid and password. Datasets available were: mortality, infant birth and death, population estimates, and communicable disease. The query system was designed and written by Elvin Asay and managed by Darryl Snyder.HI-IQ (1995-1999)In 1994, Zhiwei Liu, M.S. (ZW) came to work at the Utah Department of Health. With his background in information science and statistics, he saw an opportunity to build on the ACTION2000 technology by making Utah's hospital inpatient discharge data available as a web-based tool for on-line queries. The new query system, HI-IQ (Hospital Inpatient Internet Query), was made available to the public late in 1995. ZW's program employed an elegant system architecture for using open standards (SAS, C++) and loosely-coupled components. Users accessed the system using an Internet browser and a user-friendly "point-and-click" graphical user interface. The HI-IQ system was developed under direction of Denise Love, R.N., M.B.A., who was then Director, Office of Health Data Analysis.The potential for a web-based system such as HI-IQ was quickly recognized, and ZW was put to work converting the ACTION2000 system to a web-based system. Query modules were designed for the mortality, infant birth and death, hospital discharge, and population estimates. MatCHIIM (1997-1999)In 1997, the Utah Department of Health was awarded a three-year grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB) (project # UD 97-008). Dr. Wu Xu, Ph.D., on the UDOH Division of Community and Family Health Services, authored the grant and directed the 3-year project. The goal of Utah's HRSA, MCHB project was to provide online query capability along with important public health contextual information for the federal Bureau of Maternal and Child Health, Title V required measures(infant mortality, low birth weight, adolescent births, etc.), and to share the technology with MCH programs in state health departments in other states. Russ Scarato, HRSA, MCHB, was the project officer. The project, called the Maternal and Child Health Information Internet-query Module (MatCHIIM), used ZW's query engine, and static pages that provided graphs and information on the MCH measures. The query interface was customized for MCH users, and was modified significantly from the HI-IQ and ACTION2000 versions.Utah worked with several other states, some of whom adopted MatCHIIM, and others who may not have implemented the technology, but who contributed to the development process. A handful of UDOH staff members contributed significantly to the MatCHIIM product, including Maria Maloney, Brenda Ralls, Ph.D., Trent Lemperle, Karen Zinner, Gulzar Shah, and Sharon Talboys. Individual ContributorsArkansas Doug Murray Director, Center for Health Statistics Michigan Baoping Zhu MCH Epidemiologist, Michigan Department of Community Health Nebraska Steve Frederick Administrator, Section of Data Management, Nebraska Department of Health Nevada Wei Yan, Ph.D. State MCH Data Contact, Nevada State Bureau of Health Planning North Dakota Alana Knudsen-Buresh, Ph.D. Director, Office of Health Data, North Dakota Department of Health Wisconsin Mary Erikson Chief, Health Data Analysis Section, Center for Health Statistics, State of Wisconsin Consultants: Ira Kaufman Clinical Associate Professor, Director, Information for State Health Policy Programs, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School Reed M. Gardner, Ph.D. Professor and Chair, Department of Medical Informatics, University of Utah Charles Quade State of Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services IBIS-PH (2000-present)In 1999, it was clear that MatCHIIM was a popular tool, and the UDOH desired to expand the technology more broadly to public health data and topics, not just MCH. We had three versions of our query system interface (all using ZW's query program), and we felt the need to consolidate them into a single website where users could go for all query needs. It was also proving to be extremely time consuming to draft and publish the web content for the contextual information on each of the MCH indicators. It was clear that, if we wanted to expand the system to all public health areas, we would need to coordinate web content and distribute the load between programs.In 2000, Utah was one of several states awarded a Data Utilization and Enhancement (DUE) grant from the HRSA, MCHB (CFDA # 93.110-U). Russ Scarato was project officer for the DUE grant. Dr. Lois M. Haggard, Ph.D., from the UDOH Center for Health Data, authored the DUE grant proposal and served as UDOH project director. Additional funding was provided by the UDOH Division of Community and Family Health Services, the MCH program (SSDI grant), and the Office of Epidemiology. During this year, the IBIS-PH system was demonstrated at three national conferences, the National Association of Health Data Organizations (NAHDO, at the invitation of Denise Love), the National Association for Public Health Statistics and Information Systems (NAPHSIS, at the invitation of Charles Sirc), and the Behavioral Risk Factors Surveillance System (BRFSS, at the invitation of Ken Laliberte). Support was provided by these organizations for travel and conference attendance. The benefits of attending those conferences, generating interest and feedback on the IBIS-PH system, were extremely valuable. The query systems were integrated into the UDOH's new health data website, named Indicator-Based Information System for Public Health (IBIS-PH). A system was also developed whereby web content (tabulated numeric data, graphs, and public health contextual information) could be stored in a database. Web pages were generated dynamically from the data stored in the IBIS-PH database. This allowed for bits of information to be updated without requiring re-publishing of a static webpage. In addition, it allowed for maintenance of the pages to be distributed among multiple programs in the UDOH. Significant assistance in database design, database data entry interface, and web reporting was provided by Garth Braithwaite through a contract with Software Technology Group, Inc. in Salt Lake City, Utah. UDOH staff members who provided significant assistance include ZW and Tong Zheng (query system), and Rita Penza, Humaira Shah, Kim Neerings, Denise Beaudoin, Claudia Bohner, Shaheen Hossian, and Brenda Ralls (health indicator content and system testing). The current health indicator content is produced and maintained by over 50 UDOH staff throughout the Department. Data Stewards are responsible for the query system databases. In 2002, Utah was awarded funding through the CDC's Epidemiology Program Office's Cooperative Agreement to Support State Assessment Initiatives (CFDA # 93.283). Dr. Lois M. Haggard authored the grant proposal, and currently serves as project director. Timothy Green serves as Utah's project officer. Activities funded under the Assessment Initiative include evaluation of the IBIS-PH system, creating and maintaining advisory and user's groups, implementing changes to the system to address user requirements identified through users groups and system evaluation, and sharing the system with at least one other state. Utah is currently working with Arizona's Department of Health to share the IBIS-PH technology, and looks forward to additional collaborations with former MatCHIIM states and potentially others, including, but not limited to, New Hampshire, Wyoming, and Rhode Island. States or others wishing to adopt the IBIS-PH technology should contact Tong Zheng at (801) 538-6458 or ibis@utah.gov. |