Individual Email to Clinic Directors

Appendix I: Individual Email to Clinic Directors

Send message 3-4 weeks after OMB approval [Date TBD pending OMB approval]

From: The Keystone Center, Project Contractor

To: Clinic Directors in the following states Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia.

Subject: Health Department Access to EHRs in Healthcare Facilities —Response Requested

Dear [Insert Name],

We are writing to ask you to participate in a 30-minute phone interview to better understand the factors that affect health departments’ electronic health record access in clinics like yours during healthcare-associated infections outbreaks (for example, the 2012 fungal meningitis outbreak.)

Through a cooperative agreement, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) would like to learn about your experiences with granting access to electronic health records (EHRs) in your clinic to health departments. We are focusing on states that were most impacted by the healthcare-associated infection (HAI) fungal meningitis outbreak, but are also including states with experience responding to other HAI outbreaks, states that have addressed EHR access through legislation or other state policy, and states that are experienced using EHRs or are early adopters of health information exchanges.

Because each clinic likely functions differently, we want to provide the opportunity to include another staff member who may have also been involved in supporting health department EHR access in your clinic. If you could share the best phone number for you and the name and contact information one other clinic staff, if applicable, we would appreciate it.

Once we receive that information, we will be conducting 30-minute phone interviews to better address the facilitators and barriers that affect EHR access. In addition to an assessment report, your responses will be used to build a toolkit to help state health departments address the perspectives and needs of the healthcare facilities related to EHR access. The toolkit will provide perceived barriers, recommendations to overcome those barriers, best practices that support EHR access, and practical tools such as templates, memorandums of understanding (MOUs), and policies. The toolkit will be distributed to health departments, healthcare facilities, and other stakeholders to support awareness and strengthen relationships between public health and clinical care. These activities will facilitate the quick and efficient identification of cases during outbreak investigations, and protect the health and safety of patients.

We look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience, and would be grateful for an opportunity to speak with you.

Sincerely,

[Insert Name and contact information of The Keystone Center, Project Contractor]