Welcome to the Public Health by Region Hub
In this hub, learn how states use Rhapsody Integration Engine to power data exchange to care for populations throughout the United States. 47 states, as well as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), use Rhapsody health solutions —and many of them have shared their use cases for this hub. Click on a highlighted state to see how the department of health addresses data exchange for electronic lab reporting, syndromic surveillance, infectious disease reporting, vaccine distribution, and more.
How to use the hub
A few years ago, we collaborated with customers to create this content as a resource for public health agencies to share information and best practices with one another. This sharing is more important than ever as we work together to prepare for the future.
Since the original publication, customers and their use cases for Rhapsody solutions have evolved. If your state’s information is included here and you would like to update the information, or if your organization is not included and you would like us to add it, please contact us.
How public health uses Rhapsody Integration Engine
The immense responsibility of protecting and promoting health among entire populations hinges on timely and secure data exchange. Having the right data at the right time in the right way helps epidemiologists and other public health leaders make decisions that impact entire communities, such as whether it’s safe to return to school, work, and travel during a disease outbreak.
Healthy data leads to healthy populations.
For decades, public health agencies across the United States and around the globe have trusted Rhapsody as a cornerstone of their infrastructure, powering data exchange to protect people where they live, learn, work, and play. While this hub currently highlights how states use Rhapsody Integration Engine, many state and regional agencies rely on solutions from the Rhapsody Interoperability Suite for data enrichment — including identity management and terminology management.
Rhapsody’s high adoption rate among labs, public health agencies, and health information exchanges (HIEs) around the country has allowed us to develop a deep expertise in collecting and exchanging data for the prevention, detection, and control of infectious diseases.
Nearly all states in the United States, as well as the CDC, rely on Rhapsody to power data exchange for critical public health activities including:
- Electronic lab and case reporting
- Immunization registries
- Cancer registries
- Prescription drug monitoring
- Early hearing detection and intervention
Rhapsody’s experience in this area includes the support of all health data standards, as well as our experience working with initiatives such as:
- Public Health Information Network Messaging System
- Nationally Notifiable Disease Surveillance System
- Meaningful Use/Promoting Interoperability
- National Healthcare Safety Network
- Data Message Brokering Network at the CDC
- Public Health Laboratory Interoperability Project
- National Electronic Disease Surveillance System Modernization Initiative
- Surveys and Registries
Scaling with public health agencies during the COVID-19 pandemic
During the COVID-19 pandemic, as public health agencies faced exponential growth in the volume of data they were handling — first with lab reporting, later with vaccine distribution — agencies relied on Rhapsody in many ways, particularly with scaling integrations quickly as data demands grew. In addition, we worked with organizations outside the US, such as Nova Scotia Health Authority, which developed an innovative way using Corepoint Integration Engine to automate the delivery of test results to citizens in the province, saving staff hundreds of hours of manual labor.
While the pandemic exposed vulnerabilities of public health systems globally, it also brought much-needed attention and funding from governments to modernize public health IT infrastructure. Many of these modernization strategies rely on data-sharing as a core tactic.
Moving fast and knowing exactly where to start with your modernization efforts can be a challenge — and we’d like to help. Rhapsody solutions and services can help you with:
Cloud migration. Migrating to cloud computing can provide public health agencies with the flexibility and scalability they need to respond to changing public health needs and handle large amounts of data.
Interoperability. Ensuring that health IT systems can communicate with each other and exchange data seamlessly is essential for effective public health decision-making and response.
Mobile health solutions. Developing and implementing mobile health technology solutions, such as vaccine passports and remote monitoring devices, can improve access to care, support population health management, and enhance disease surveillance.
Data analytics. Rhapsody solutions can support advanced data analytics capabilities and can help public health agencies to process, analyze, and interpret large and complex health data sets to inform decision-making and response.
Integration with other systems. Integration with other public health systems, providers, and HIEs allows different healthcare stakeholders to engage with one another and improve health outcomes. This allows all levels of public health to gain access to data for actionable insights, supporting health equity efforts, providing a more comprehensive view of patient health, driving better care coordination.
Cybersecurity. Improving cybersecurity is crucial to protect sensitive public health data and ensure the continuity of public health services during times of crisis.
How Rhapsody health solutions power public health internationally
Public health agencies across the globe, such as NHS Trusts in the United Kingdom and local state and territory health departments in Australia, use Rhapsody solutions to support care. Check the hub often as we update it with case studies from other regions, such as:
- State and Territory State of Victoria, Australia
- Health and Social Care Northern Ireland
- Integrated Health Information Systems (IHiS) in Singapore
Need help modernizing your region’s infrastructure? We can help.
Rhapsody can help you put integration, identity, and terminology solutions and services to work to address your most pressing public health interoperability challenges. With targeted education and product offerings, Rhapsody solutions and services helping public health agencies navigate web services, API strategy, FHIR, and increased data volumes.
