Johns Hopkins University is establishing a new center aimed at improving and expanding the use of electronic health record systems, e-health, and information technology. The Johns Hopkins Center for Population Health IT—known as CPHIT (pronounced "see-fit")—will draw on faculty skilled in public health, medicine, informatics, computer science, business, and systems engineering and will focus on helping public health agencies and private health care organizations utilize e-health tools to increase the efficiency and equity of health care delivery.
"We are currently witnessing the most expansive digitalization of health care in history," says Jonathan Weiner, a professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and director of CPHIT. "Over the coming decade, electronic health records, personal health records, and other e-health applications will completely transform health care in the U.S. and around the world. Today, the focus is clinicians using these systems to treat the individual patient. Our center wants to extend this focus to enable public health agencies and accountable provider or payer organizations to also harness these health IT systems to create solutions for the many population health issues facing our nation."
CPHIT will be based within the Bloomberg School's Department of Health Policy and Management but will involve faculty from the university's School of Medicine, Whiting School of Engineering, and Carey Business School, as well as the Johns Hopkins Health System. The center is also launching the Johns Hopkins CPHIT Industry Partners Program to develop alliances with private companies interested in using information technology to support population health.
Posted in Health, University News
