Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #108236

Karen S. Martin, RN, MSN, FAAN, Martin Associates, 2115 S. 130th St., Omaha, NE 68144, 402-333-1962, martinks@tconl.com and Gretchen Sampson, RN BSN MPH, Polk County Health Department, 100 Polk County Plaza, Ste. 180, Balsam Lake, WI 54810.

Healthy People 2010 includes a cluster of objectives (23-1 through 23-7) that address data access, collection, and sharing as well as critical information technology initiatives. The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS)also oversees the implementation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) that affects all health care providers. Since 2003, DHHS announced its plan that providers will be required to submit comparable data, and selected SNOMED CT®, LOINC, and HL7 as messaging standards (behind the scenes/data exchange). These developments are congruent with the Omaha System, a research-based, standardized, comprehensive terminology that is included in the three messaging standards. The Omaha System was developed and refined by public health nurses and other multidisciplinary practitioners to use at the point-of-care for improving practice, documentation, and information management. It consists of the Problem Classification Scheme, the Intervention Scheme, and the Problem Rating Scale for Outcomes. It is designed to identify clients' needs, describe interventions, and measure outcomes of care effectively and efficiently. The 2005 revision of the Omaha System includes a new modifier, “community,” to provide an improved structure with which to capture population-focused public health data. This session will provide an overview about why current and future information technology, quality, and outcome initiatives are important to public health nurses, how the Omaha System is capable of operationalizing 2010 objectives, and how it can offer a streamlined method to generate accurate and consistent clinical data useful to public health practitioners and their agencies.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, participants will be able to

• Describe five reasons to know about and participate in information technology, quality, and outcome measurement initiatives.
• Identify how the Omaha System can be used to operationalize 2010 objectives.
• List necessary steps to obtain and use accurate and consistent clinical data.

Keywords: Health Information Systems, Healthy People 2000/2010

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commertial supporters WITH THE EXCEPTION OF I am a consultant and may have conducted workshops and consultation for some participants and will do so for others in the future..

Recorded presentation