Public health and the rest of the healthcare delivery system have long operated in silos in the U.S. While progress was made during the COVID-19 pandemic, CDC Director Mandy Cohen, MD, stressed that now is the time to build on that momentum and invest in data modernization and interoperability efforts.
This is true across all players in healthcare and public health, Dr. Cohen said while speaking at AHIP's 2024 conference on June 11 in Las Vegas. For example, the CDC has been focused on data modernization projects to share actionable data with health systems and health plans. Hospitals have also played a significant role in breaking down public health silos since the pandemic emerged. For example, one of the core reasons federal health officials have been able to determine that the ongoing bird flu outbreak in cattle poses a low risk to public health is because the CDC receives real-time data from 90% of emergency departments in the U.S., she said.
When asked what payers can do to strengthen the nation's public health infrastructure, she shared three pieces of advice:
- Advance interoperability: "What you can do in the data space is continue to encourage the systems that you invest in, those that you pay, to make sure they're building data systems that are interoperable [and] allow us to see disease threats quickly so that we can respond," Dr. Cohen said.
- Leverage shared investments: Often there is duplication in the investments being made by payers and public health departments. The two should engage in more conversations to make the most of these investments. "How do we link our Medicaid work and our public health work together?" she said. "You have to braid that together. It has to be intentional. There's a lot of places where there are requirements on your Medicaid site where you can leverage investments being made in public health right now."
- Collaborate with health systems and the public health sector to determine who is responsible for what metrics: "We're all taking responsibility for a population. How do we do that in alignment?" Dr. Cohen said. Each player in the healthcare ecosystem should collaborate to define clear responsibilities and share accountability. "What is the role of the CDC versus a hospital system who maybe is taking risks in a new ACO model? How can we define those roles and hold ourselves accountable?"