Impact Statements
Jeff W. Johnson
Executive Assistant to the Director for Customer Service, Illinois Department of Public Health, Project Director, HISPC-Illinois
"The state of Illinois is in the early planning stages for a state-wide Health Information Exchange (HIE). In our efforts to advance state-wide HIE, the Illinois Electronic Health Records Taskforce was convened by the Illinois Department of Public Health in response to legislation. The Common Framework greatly influenced the taskforce's report in December 2006. It included a state plan for the development and use of electronic health records (EHRs) in order to improve the quality and safety of patient care. A primary recommendation was establishment of a state-level HIE based upon the federated model outlined in the Common Framework. To follow through on the recommendations of the taskforce, the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services and the Illinois Department of Public Health, are convening a stakeholder group entitled the Illinois Health Information Exchange (HIE) Advisory Committee.
The state's Health Information Security and Privacy Collaboration (HISPC) project also used the Common Framework as a guide for the development of privacy and security policies to serve as a foundation for the state-level HIE."
As part of his focus on bringing technological solutions to improving public health services, Jeff is Project Director for Illinois' Health Information Security and Privacy Collaboration (HISPC) project. This project recently developed policy recommendations for a proposed state-level health information exchange. Prior to HISPC, he staffed the Illinois Electronic Health Records Taskforce, which was charged with the task of developing a plan for the advancement on electronic health records and health information exchange in Illinois.
Jeff was the Agency Project Manager for the department's performance review efforts, which involved the development of agency goals, objectives and performance indicators to measure program performance levels. He worked with the Governor's Office on the implementation of an electronic performance measurement database application for the department. The Governor's Office selected him as a mentor to assist other agencies with their implementation of the performance measurement software.
After September 11, 2001, Jeff assisted the director with bioterrorism preparedness and response planning. He was appointed Internal Smallpox Preparedness Coordinator to help the department quickly implement President George Bush's Pre-Event Smallpox Vaccination Program to improve the nation's preparedness level in case of a bioterrorism event using smallpox.
