Illinois Strengthens Public Health Infrastructure with New Data Modernization Director

October 14, 2024 | Alicia Camuy

As COVID-19 demonstrated, robust data infrastructure is critical to an effective public health emergency response. The pandemic highlighted the urgent need for health departments and other public health entities to improve how health data is collected, stored, and shared. The CDC-led Data Modernization Initiative (DMI) is working across all levels of public health to meet this urgent need.

Part of this initiative is the Public Health Infrastructure Grant (PHIG), a groundbreaking investment supporting 107 recipients working to bolster the public health workforce, enhance foundational capabilities, and advance data modernization and informatics. PHIG national partners and specialized Implementation Centers support these efforts through technical assistance and capacity building.

Some PHIG recipients have utilized this funding to staff dedicated DMI positions and convene advisory committees. The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) recently hired Gayatri Raol as its Data Modernization Director to oversee the state’s efforts in this area.

What are your highlights from your data modernization work around PHIG so far?

Gathering Data Modernization Stakeholders

To build some structure around DMI implementation, IDPH recently kicked off a data governance board, data modernization advisory committee, and DMI strategic planning workgroup, which all bring in key stakeholders to have focused conversations on data initiatives. The board defined data governance for IDPH and is working on approving and adopting a department-wide data suppression policy, which will be a major success for the department.

Adopting a Data Sharing Agreement

IDPH has finalized a Master Data User Agreement to streamline data sharing practices, which will allow local health departments to access data for birth and death records, hospital discharge, cancer registries, syndromic surveillance, prescription monitoring programs, and more.

Bolstering the Data Modernization Workforce

We are working with the CDC Foundation Workforce Acceleration Initiative, a program that places data and technology experts in public health agencies to accelerate data systems improvement. Through that collaboration, we have been awarded two technical and two project management support positions.

Training a Data Literate Health Department

IDPH has also started exploring a data literacy program to support IDPH staff and local health departments in understanding the data we have, what it means, and how to manage it. This program will be the initial step towards change management to build a data-driven organization and a data literate workforce.

Building a Streamlined Data Request Management System

IDPH is streamlining and centralizing data request processes across the department. The department is collaborating with IT to develop a data request tracking and management system. If we can reduce the time of the process by even 25%, then it will be a success. This project will increase the transparency around data requests processing and keep our data governance board, internal review board, and data owners informed about data sharing practices.

What challenges do you expect to encounter and how do you plan to meet them?

Our challenges are not unique compared to those faced by other public health departments, but they are significant in the context of other data modernization initiatives. Some of our main challenges are:

• Slow, cumbersome, and complicated hiring and procurement processes.
• Stringent policies.
• Understanding diverse workforce and population needs.
• Acquiring sustainable funding and buy-in.

For those challenges beyond our control, our team focuses on communication and collaboration to move toward improvement. However, for those challenges we can directly impact, we follow several key strategies:

• Reviewing and updating existing policies to make them more flexible and adaptable, allowing us to respond more quickly and effectively to new opportunities and challenges.
• Investing in data literacy programs to enhance our workforce’s skills, enabling them to better interpret and use data in decision-making processes.
• Incorporating a health equity and justice lens into data-related projects and processes to better meet the needs of the communities we serve.
• Investing in foundational data management practices and processes.

How is IDPH’s data modernization work impacting IDPH itself and, ultimately, Illinois residents?

It is difficult to measure the direct impact of state-level data modernization efforts on the lives of Illinois citizens. However, enhanced data management practices will equip our public health leaders to make more informed decisions. Better quality and more integrated data will help keep decision-makers informed on how to allocate resources, identify public health trends and outbreaks, and respond efficiently to public health crisis.