UNIFY is a one-year (12/1/2005 - 11/30/2006) planning project funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The goal of the project is to develop a business plan for ongoing, statewide public health participation in electronic exchange of clinical health information.

Project Director: Lois M. Haggard, PhD 801-538-9455 loishaggard@utah.gov
David N. Sundwall, MD, Executive Director, Utah Department of Health (UDOH)
Laverne Alves Snow, MPA, RWJ Informatics Fellow
Barry Nangle, PhD, Director, UDOH Center for Health Data
Gary House, MPH, Director, Weber-Morgan Health Department
Gary Edwards, MS, Director, Salt Lake Valley Health Department
Joseph Shaffer, MA, MBA, EHS, Director, TriCounty Health Department
Robert Rolfs, MD, MPH, Utah State Epidemiologist, UDOH

Project staff will identify opportunities in which clinical exchanges with public health programs will be feasible and provide value to both the private and public sector partners. Four areas of information exchange have been identified as potential candidates:

• Disease Reporting and Management (SERPH) 1
• Newborn Screening and Follow-Up (CHARM)
• Querying the Immunization Registry Forecast Module (USIIS)
• Vital Records Links to the electronic health record for electronic birth and death registration

Other potential candidates include hospital discharge reporting through Utah Health Information Network (UHIN), surveillance of prescription narcotic abuse, birth defects surveillance, and other state and local public health exchanges.

Opportunities for information exchange will be identified through a series of interviews, meetings, and a retreat of key stakeholders, including the UHIN, Intermountain Healthcare, Associated Regional and University Pathologists (ARUP) Laboratories, the Utah Digital Health Services Commission (DHSC), local health departments, relevant UDOH program staff, and others. Project staff will actively learn from other states who have achieved successes in clinical exchanges for public health.

The primary grant deliverable will be a business plan that addresses opportunities, benefits, and costs of the planned exchanges, commitments from key stakeholders, and identification of mechanisms to fund costs associated with the exchanges.