Healthcare Facility POC Email

Appendix H: Email to Healthcare Facility Point of Contact

Send message 2-3 weeks after OMB approval [Date TBD pending OMB approval]

From: The Keystone Center, Project Contractor

To: Healthcare Facility Points of Contact in 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],

Your name was provided to us by [insert name of person at state health department] as the best person to contact at your facility for an evaluation of state health department access to electronic health records (EHRs) from healthcare facilities during an outbreak.

Through a cooperative agreement, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) are soliciting the views and best advice of key stakeholders in your state health departments’ access to and use of EHRs maintained by healthcare facilities. We are focusing primarily on states that were most impacted by the 2012 fungal meningitis outbreak, but are including states with experience responding to other healthcare-associated infection outbreaks, states that have addressed EHR access through legislation or other state policy, and states that have experience using EHRs or are early adopters of health information exchanges.

We need your help in identifying the name and contact information for the following roles in your healthcare facility:

1. Infection Preventionist

2. Health Informatics Director

3. Another Role/Person that you believe would be able to provide insight about your experience working with a health department during an outbreak, if applicable.

We will be conducting up to 30-minute phone interviews with these individuals to better understand the facilitators and barriers that affect health departments’ access to EHRs. In addition to an assessment report, these 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.

Sincerely,

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