APHL plays an important role in helping to shape, understand and share national informatics policies that impact public health. Through strategic partnerships with member laboratories and allied public health organizations and associations, we bridge the gap between policy makers and the public health community.
Contact the Informatics team at [email protected]
Federal agencies such as the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and Food and Drug Administration regularly establish rules and regulations that affect public health laboratory operations and health information systems.
These policies govern technical standards for data exchange, laboratory reporting requirements, interoperability frameworks and information system specifications. Input from public health laboratories and agencies during policy development ensures that regulations align with public health workflows, technical capabilities and operational realities.
Public health laboratories require representation in federal policy discussions to support effective disease surveillance, facilitate timely data sharing between healthcare, laboratories and public health systems and ensure that regulations account for the needs and technical environments of state and local health departments. Direct engagement with policy makers during the rule development process helps create implementable policies that enable core public health functions.
APHL serves as a voice for public health laboratories in federal policy discussions, ensuring that regulatory decisions support rather than hinder public health operations. Through strategic partnerships with member laboratories, the Joint Public Health Informatics Taskforce (JPHIT) and allied associations, we work to bridge the gap between policy makers and the public health community.
Our policy work focuses on three goals:
APHL reviews rules, policies and standards as they are released by federal agencies and standards development organizations. We engage with our members and with partner organizations, including through JPHIT, to provide feedback and comments on proposed rules.
APHL maintains a collaborative space that summarizes recent policies and rules and lists opportunities for public comment. We are actively involved in national initiatives that will have a significant impact on public health reporting, such as the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement (TEFCA) and the CMS Interoperability Framework and HL7 FHIR. We represent and advocate for public health laboratories and the public health community more broadly in meetings with federal leadership, on workgroups, and as where possible, as part of governance structures. Moreover, we support and innovate with our members to ensure that public health is at the forefront of these emerging health IT ecosystems and technologies.
APHL is proud to be a founding member of JPHIT, a coalition that provides a forum for coordination and collaboration of public health informatics priorities across its member organizations.
For more information on JPHIT’s work to identify synergies, build consensus and facilitate action:
Visit the JPHIT homepage
