PHF maintains collaborative and cooperative relationships with many organizations throughout the public health community.
Federal Agencies
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State Health Departments
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National Organizations
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State Public Health Associations
General Resources
- Center for Health Care Strategies – Promotes high quality health care services for low-income populations and people with chronic illnesses and disabilities. This objective is achieved through awarding grants and providing "real world" training and technical assistance to state purchasers of publicly financed health care, health plans, and consumer groups.
- Guide to Community Preventive Services – The Guide to Community Preventive Services (Community Guide) serves as a filter for scientific literature on specific health problems that can be large, inconsistent, uneven in quality, and even inaccessible. The Community Guide summarizes what is known about the effectiveness, economic efficiency, and feasibility of interventions to promote community health and prevent disease.
- healthfinder.gov – The healthfinder® web site is an award-winning Federal Web site for consumers, developed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services together with other Federal agencies. Since 1997, healthfinder.gov has been recognized as a key resource for finding the best government and nonprofit health and human services information on the Internet. healthfinder.gov links to carefully selected information and Web sites from over 1,500 health-related organizations.
- healthinsuranceinfo.net – Provides state-specific information on private health insurance coverage and links to local organizations offering assistance. A resource, developed by the Georgetown University Health Policy Institute, useful in working through local healthcare access issues.
- National Health Information Center (NHIC) – NHIC is a health information referral service of the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (ODPHP). Resources for health professionals and consumers include listings of all Federal health information centers and clearinghouses, toll-free numbers for health information, and national health observances.
- National Public Health Leadership Development Network – The National Public Health Leadership Development Network is a consortium of organizations and individuals from academic institutions, national and international organizations, and local, state, and federal agencies dedicated to advancing the practice of public health leadership. The mission of the Network is to build public health leadership capacity by sustaining a collaborative and vibrant learning community of leadership programs in order to improve health outcomes.
- Peace Corps – Are you looking for a different way to share your knowledge and expertise in health related fields, all while living and working in a developing nation? Peace Corps may be the answer. Founded by President John F. Kennedy, the Peace Corps was created to provide education and technical training to citizens of other countries and to foster cross cultural exchange. Peace Corps is looking for volunteers to work in the areas of health education, HIV/AIDS education and awareness, or water sanitation.
- Public Health Employment Connection – This site, hosted by Emory University, Rollins School of Public Health, provides information on a broad array of jobs in the public health field.
- Trust for America's Health – A non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to saving lives by protecting the health of every community and working to make disease prevention a national priority.
Academic Linkages & Training
- Community-Campus Partnerships for Health (CCPH) – This site provides information on CCPH programs. CCPH is a national organization created to support and sustain partnerships between communities and health professions schools to improve health.
- Public Health Training Centers Network – The Health Resources and Services Administration has funded 14 Public Health Training Centers. These partnerships between schools of public health and public health agencies and organizations are designed to assess and provide training to meet the learning needs of the public health workforce.
- Public Health Training Network (PHTN) – The Public Health Training Network (PHTN) is a distance learning network of people and resources that takes training and information to the learner. PHTN uses a variety of instructional media formats such as printed publications, videotapes, webcasts, and satellite broadcasts to meet the training and information needs of the health workforce nationwide. See also Distance Learning Articles & Speeches.
- Schools of Public Health – This Association of Schools of Public Health site lists the nation's accredited schools of public health.
- TRAIN – The TrainingFinder Real-time Affiliate Integrated Network, or TRAIN, is the nation’s premier learning resource for professionals who protect the public’s health. TRAIN is comprised of the national www.train.org site and participating TRAIN affiliate sites. Affiliate sites are managed by many state public health agencies, academic partners, and others.
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Best Practices
- Center for Health Improvement (CHI) – A national, independent, nonprofit health policy center dedicated to improving population health and encouraging healthy behaviors. CHI uses evidence-based research as the basis for policy innovation and implementation.
- The Model Practice Database – An online, searchable collection of practices across public health areas. This database, developed by the National Association of County & City Health Officials (NACCHO), allows you to benefit from your colleagues' experiences, to learn what works, and to ensure that resources are used wisely on effective programs that have been implemented with good results.
- National Governors Association Center for Best Practices – The Health Division provides support to Governors in responding to the challenges of health services encouraging healthy behaviors through technical assistance, policy research, and by facilitating their participation in national discussion and initiatives. Center activities focus on the uninsured, aging and long-term care, Medicare and Medicaid, children's health, and public health.
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Data Related
This section is divided into the following two categories:
Locate additional tools and resources on evaluating and building the capacity of public health systems in the Public Health Improvement Resource Center.
Using Data
- Administrative Simplification in the Health Care Industry – Located at the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation website are links to the following focus areas: (1) HIPAA Transactions, Code Sets, Security and Identifier Standards (2) HIPAA Health Information Privacy Standards.
- Case Definitions for Public Health Surveillance - This CDC document provides case definitions for use by health-care providers, laboratories, and other public health personnel who report the occurrences of notifiable diseases to state and local health departments.
- Finding and Using Health Statistics: A Self-Study Course – The National Information Center on Health Services Research and Health Care Technology (NICHSR) of the National Library of Medicine has added this distance learning program to its website. This course will provide librarians, health services researchers, and public health professionals with some basic concepts for understanding health statistics, as well as pointing to some invaluable Internet portals.
- AHRQ National Resource Center for Health Information Technology – Developed to help the health care community make the leap into the Information Age. In addition to providing technical assistance, the National Resource Center shares new knowledge and findings that have the potential to transform everyday clinical practice.
- Massachusetts Health Data Consortium – The Consortium works with hospitals, government planners, employers, purchasers, labor, HMOs, insurers and academic researchers to produce reports relating to: the health status of the population, marketing and planning of health services, the socioeconomic characteristics of the population, community needs, health facilities, services and manpower, and private and public sector health insurance plans. A good resource for health data tools and reports and information on health data standards issues.
- MCH Analytic Skills Online – A cooperative agreement with the Maternal and Child Health Bureau, Health Resources and Services Administration. Located at the University of Illinois at Chicago, School of Public Health, Center for the Advancement of Distance Education, the project uses internet-based technologies to develop and disseminate analytic skills training for maternal and child health (MCH) and children with special health care needs professionals.
- National Health Information Infrastructure (NHII) – The NHII is: an initiative set forth to improve the effectiveness, efficiency and overall quality of health and health care in the United States; a comprehensive knowledge-based network of interoperable systems of clinical, public health, and personal health information that would improve decision-making by making health information available when and where it is needed; the set of technologies, standards, applications, systems, values, and laws that support all facets of individual health, health care, and public health; and finally, it is voluntary and not a centralized database of medical records or a government regulation.
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Privacy Toolkit for Public Health Professionals (PRISM) - The PRISM privacy tool provides state and local government health programs, and public health departments and programs in particular, with a convenient and useful way to understand the basic legal privacy requirements for identifiable health information use and disclosure.
- Public Health Data Standards Consortium (PHDSC) – The Consortium is a coalition of organizations committed to the promotion of data standards for public health and for health services research through the collaboration of state, federal, and private sector organizations. The PHDSC has launched a Web-based Resource Center at http://phdsc.org to expand educational resources, inform stakeholders, and organize public health data standardization efforts. Visit this site for information on HIPAA, HL7, XML, and other standards and standards-related efforts that affect day-to-day public health challenges.
- Public Health Information Network (PHIN) – The CDC Public Health Information Network is a national initiative to improve the capacity of public health to use and exchange information electronically by promoting the use of standards, defining functional and technical requirements. PHIN strives to improve public health by enhancing research and practice through best practices related to efficient, effective, and interoperable public health information systems.
Sources of Data
- Behavioral Risk Factor and Surveillance System (CDC) – The world’s largest, on-going telephone health survey system, tracking health conditions and risk behaviors in the United States yearly since 1984. BRFSS provides state-specific information about issues such as asthma, diabetes, health care access, alcohol use, hypertension, obesity, cancer screening, nutrition and physical activity, tobacco use, and more.
- CDC WONDER - A single point of access to a variety of CDC reports, guidelines, and numeric public health data, this site provides links to over 70 text-based and numeric databases. At several of the linked sites users can request data for diseases and demographic groups by submitting ad hoc queries against available datasets. CDC WONDER also provides free-text search facilities and document retrieval from several bibliographic databases. For more information regarding CDC databases, visit the CDC Data and Statistics page.
- Child Trends DataBank – This resource includes the latest national trends and research on over 100 key indicators of child and youth well-being including: continuously updated trend data with the latest national estimates for all indicators; plain language reporting on trends and population subgroup differences informed by existing research; color graphics and tables that can be downloaded directly into reports and presentations; PDF files for each indicator containing text, graphics, and tables in a concise and attractive format; and links that provide organized access to additional information available for each indicator.
- Data Resource Center (DRC) for Child and Adolescent Health – An easy-to-use public website that eliminates barriers and reduces time and resources needed to obtain key findings on the health and health care of children, youth, and families. The DRC includes standardized indicators from the two most recent and extensive state-based surveys on the health and health care of children, youth, and families - The National Survey of Children's Health (NSCH) and The National Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs (NS-CSHCN). These indicators are available for you to search and compare by subgroups such as age, race/ethnicity, income, and health status.
- Healthcare Cost & Utilization Project (HCUP) - This family of health care databases and related software tools and products was developed developed through a Federal-State-Industry partnership. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) sponsors HCUP, and their fact sheet summarizes available resources. HCUP includes State Inpatient Databases (SID); State Ambulatory Surgery Databases (SASD); State Emergency Department Databases (SEDD); Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS); and Kids' Inpatient Database (KID).
- Health Services and Sciences Research Resources (HSRR) – A public health systems research (PHSR) search utility database located at the National Information Center on Health Services Research and Health Care Technology (NICHSR)/National Library of Medicine site that helps researchers find datasets, instruments/indices, and software to assist in conducting PHSR. The University of Kentucky College of Public Health developed this searchable PHSR database in conjunction with the National Library of Medicine (NLM) and sponsorship from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Records describe data available from public health organizations and programs such as the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) Profile of Local Health Departments and National Public Health Performance Standards Program dataset.
- Injury Databases & Published Statistics - The Injury Control Resource Information Network is sponsored by the Center for Injury Research & Control at the University of Pittsburgh. It includes annotated links to injury mortality databases, injury hospital discharge databases, emergency department databases, transportation databases, occupational injuries databases, crime databases, demographics databases, mapping (GIS) databases, administrative (hospital and agency listings) databases, and a coroner database. Also included are injury data publications links.
- Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) - Reports include data for nationally notifiable diseases reported by the 50 states, New York City, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. territories.
- National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS): Surveys and Data Collection Systems – NCHS has two major types of data systems: systems based on populations, containing data collected through personal interviews or examinations; and systems based on records, containing data collected from vital and medical records. It includes the following major surveys, systems, and studies: National Health Interview Survey, National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, National Health Care Survey, National Vital Statistics System (data files and surveys), National Survey of Family Growth, National Immunization Survey, The Longitudinal Studies of Aging (LSOAs), and the State and Local Area Integrated Telephone Survey. Associated surveys are included under some of the major survey headings.
- Partners in Information Access for the Public Health Workforce: Health Data Tools and Statistics - A collaboration of U.S. government agencies, public health organizations and health sciences libraries, this National Library of Medicine site offers comprehensive links to health statistics and data sets as well as resources to support data collection. Included are links to national, state, and local data related to health status, preparedness, public health infrastructure, and public health systems. Also available are tools for data collection and planning.
- PeriStats – An interactive perinatal data resource from the March of Dimes. Search for free US, state, county, and city maternal & infant health data. Over 60,000 graphs, maps and tables available.
- Quick Health Data Online - This Department of Health and Human Services site offers data for women and men regarding a variety of infectious and chronic diseases, mental health, reproductive health, maternal health, violence and abuse, illness prevention, mortality, and access to care indicators. National, regional, state, and county data are available, and data can be stratified by gender, race/ethnicity, and age concurrently. Users can make their own tables, graphs, and maps out of any data in the database. Age-adjusted rates and 3-year averages are included for many of the health status indicators.
- State Health Facts Online - Searchable state heath data comparisons and individual state profiles for all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Includes state demographic data and indicators in areas such as demographics and the economy, health status, health coverage and uninsured , Medicaid and SCHIP, health costs and budgets, Medicare, managed care and health insurance, providers and service use, minority health, women's health, and HIV/AIDS. The site is a Kaiser Family Foundation product.
- TOXNET (Toxicology Data Network) - Developed by the National Library of Medicine's Toxicology and Environmental Health Information Program, this is a compilation of databases related to toxicology and environmental health. The databases accessible via TOXNET include HSDB (Hazardous Substances Data Bank), TOXLINE (Toxicology Literature OnLINE), CCRIS (Chemical Carcinogenesis Research Information System), GENE-TOX, IRIS (Integrated Risk Information System), DART (Developmental and Reproductive Toxicology), ChemIDplus - Dictionary of over 370,000 chemicals, ITER (International Toxicity Estimates for Risk), LactMed (Drugs and Lactation Database) Haz-Map - Information on Hazardous Chemicals and Occupational Diseases, Household Products - Health and Safety Information on Household Products, TOXMAP - Environmental Health e-Maps, and TRI (Toxic Chemical Release Inventory).
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Planning & Policy
- Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academies, Board on Population Health and Public Health Practice – The Board focuses on areas and issues affecting the public’s health. In studies ranging from core principles and needs in the field to specific issues such as vaccine safety, pandemic preparedness issues, smoking cessation, health disparities, and reducing environmental and occupational hazards, BPH considers the best ways to ensure the health of the public.
- Center for Outcomes and Effectiveness Research and Education (COERE) – The COERE offers integrated scientific expertise and experience in all areas of outcomes and effectiveness research, including: quality measurement, outcomes measurement and technology assessment, decision analytic modeling, outcomes management and tracking, clinical guideline development and implementation, retrospective claims data analysis, cost-effectiveness and cost-benefit analysis.
- The Future of the Public's Health in the 21st Century – Reviews the nation's public health capabilities and presents a comprehensive framework for how the government public health agencies, working with multiple partners from the public and private sectors as an intersectoral public health system, can better assure the health of communities by: adopting a population health approach that considers the multiple determinants of health; strengthening the governmental public health infrastructure, the backbone of the public health system; building a new generation of intersectoral partnerships; requiring accountability from and among all sectors of the public health system; making evidence the foundation of decision-making; and enhancing and facilitating communication within the public health system.
- Healthy People 2010 website – The official site for comprehensive information on Healthy People 2010, including leading health indicators, implementation of Healthy People 2010, Healthy People 2010 publications, Healthy People 2010 data, public comments on the proposed changes to the Healthy People 2010 objectives through the Midcourse Review, and more. Also see Developing Healthy People 2020.
- The Hilltop Institute – a nationally recognized research center, at the University of Maryland (UMBC), dedicated to improving the health and social outcomes of vulnerable populations. Hilltop conducts research, analysis, and evaluation on behalf of government agencies, foundations, and other non-profit organizations at the national, state, and local levels.
- Partners in Information Access for the Public Health Workforce – This site was developed by the National Library of Medicine to provide public health professionals timely, convenient access to information resources to aid them in improving the health of the American public. It is a collaboration of U.S. government agencies, public health organizations and health sciences libraries. Main topics include health promotion and health education, literature and guidelines, health data tools and statistics, grants and funding, education and training, legislation and policy, conferences and meetings, finding people, discussion and e-mail lists, and jobs and careers.
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Environmental Health
- The Air Pollution Distance Learning Network – The Air Pollution Distance Learning Network (APDLN) is a digital educational satellite broadcasting network of over 100 governmental and university broadcast affiliates located across the United States. The APDLN is the result of a collaborative partnership between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA), state, local, and tribal air pollution control agencies.
- Healthy People 2010 & Environmental Health – A robust collection of online resources to aid in developing, implementing, tracking and evaluating environmental health objectives; and for use with other environmental health planning projects. It focuses on the six major topic areas within the Healthy People 2010 Environmental Health Focus Area: outdoor air quality, water quality, toxics and wastes, healthy homes and healthy communities, infrastructure and surveillance, and global environmental health. Visit www.phf.org/pmqi/hp2010.htm#eh and share this link with your environmental health colleagues.
- The Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC) is dedicated to increasing knowledge of the biological and physical processes that sustain life on earth. SERC's interdisciplinary research applies long-term studies to examine the ecological questions about landscapes of linked ecosystems, especially those impacted by human activities. SERC leads the Nation in research on linkages of land and water ecosystems in the coastal zone
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Tox Town – an interactive web site that enables students, teachers, and other community stakeholders learn about the environmental health concerns on a farm, in a town or city, at ports, and along the U.S. - Mexico border.
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Preparedness
- Bioterrorism and Emergency Readiness: Competencies for ALL Public Health Workers – This document includes basic competencies in emergency preparedness AND bioterrorism (BT) readiness for all public health workers. Emergency response works best within a consistent system. Many of these BT competencies, with slight editing, also apply to other categories of emergency, including those related to chemical, nuclear or explosive devices.
- CDC Emergency Preparedness & Response – This site is intended to increase the nation's ability to prepare for and respond to public health emergencies. It contains information on bioterrorism, chemical, and radiological emergencies; mass casualty incidents; natural disasters and severe weather; recent outbreaks and incidents; and additional topics and resources. Information is available on programs such as the Clinician Registry for Updates on Terrorism & Emergency Response, Emergency Preparedness for Business, and the Strategic National Stockpile. Resources include fact sheets, guidelines, notification protocols, news, frequently asked questions, links, and more.
- CDC Health Alert Network - This project is intended to: ensure that each community has rapid and timely access to emergent health information; a cadre of highly-trained professional personnel; and evidence-based practices and procedures for effective public health preparedness, response, and service on a 24/7 basis.
- The Center for Biosecurity of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) – This Center works to prevent the development and use of biological weapons, to catalyze advances in science and governance that diminish the power of biological weapons as agents of mass lethality, and to lessen the human suffering that would result if prevention fails. Areas of focus include: agents and diseases; avian/pandemic influenza; business and biosecurity; community engagement; countermeasure development;
government policy and programs; hospital preparedness; international biosecurity; public health preparedness; and science and biosecurity.
- DisasterAssistance.gov – Locate and Apply for Disaster Relief. Download Are You Ready? (An In-depth Guide to Citizen Preparedness). Site includes resources for managers and emergency responders supporting incident response and recovery operations, including DMIS Tools, OPEN Web Services, and the HazCollect public alerting system.
Visit www.disasterassistance.gov.
- Emergency and Terrorism Preparedness for Environmental Health Practitioners – Provides environmental health practitioners with information to help prepare and respond to emergencies, including links to resources on preparedness and response planning, information systems, competencies, and laws pertaining to dealing with environmental hazards. Browse on the following topic areas: biologic and infectious waste, building environment, food protection, general preparedness, hazardous materials, radiation, vector control , and water security. This clearinghouse from CDC's National Center for Environmental Health also lists training resources.
- Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Best Practices highlight practices and procedures that members of the state and local emergency management and responder community have found useful and effective. Included are exemplary practices in emergency management, smart practices for rescuing animals in a disaster, and risk management publications.
- National Center for Disaster Preparedness (NCDP) – The NCDP is an academically-based resource center dedicated to the study, analysis and enhancement of the nation's ability to prepare for and respond to major disasters, including terrorism.
- Rand Public Health Systems and Preparedness – Designed to help state and local health officials find links to resources and the best exercises to prepare for public health emergencies. This web site contains a searchable database of exercises used to evaluate public health preparedness. Materials contained on the site were designed to help state and local public health officials identify and evaluate exercises to be used in preparedness activities in their local areas. This web site was designed by RAND, under contract to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Public Health Emergency Preparedness.
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Safety
- Consumer Product Safety Review – The Consumer Product Safety Commission produces this quarterly journal, which offers an in-depth look at the latest hazards associated with home and recreational products, as well as the most significant current product recalls. To order, go to "Publications" at the CPSC's web site or call 202-512-1800.
- National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) SaferCar.org – This interactive site was developed to help the nation's population better understand motor vehicle safety issues related to areas such as tires, air bags, child safety seats, electronic stability controls, and hybrid electric vehicles. The site includes crash test /rollover ratings and information on defects and recalls.
- Partnership for Food Safety Education (PFSE) – a not-for-profit organization that unites industry associations, professional societies in food science, nutrition and health, consumer groups, and the U.S. government to educate the public about safe food handling. This site provides educational materials on safe food-handling practices to reduce foodborne illnesses.
- U.S. Fire Administration (USFA) – As an entity of the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the mission of the USFA is to reduce life and economic losses due to fire and related emergencies, through leadership, advocacy, coordination, and support.
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Other
- Step-by-step breast self-examination (BSE) instructions are now available through the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation's virtual BSE program at www.komen.org/bse. BSE instruction is provided through video animation, audio clips and written directions in both English and Spanish.
- CDC Flu website – Contains a broad range of tools and information for patients, care providers, and individuals, including educational materials for use promoting influenza vaccination.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/Vaccines and Immunizations – Provides recommended vaccination and immunization schedules, as well as other useful information. The "Pink Book"--Epidemiology and Prevention of Vaccine-Preventable Diseases--provides comprehensive epidemiological data and vaccine recommendations for diseases such as anthrax, hepatitis A and B, human papillomavirus, measles, rotavirus, smallpox, zoster (shingles), and tetanus. The Pink Book contains comprehensive information on each vaccine-preventable disease, as well as information on: principles of vaccination, general recommendations on immunization, immunization strategies for healthcare practices and providers, and vaccine safety.
- Join Together – A project of the Boston University School of Public Health, Join Together is the major provider of current news, research and funding opportunities for people working in the fields of tobacco, alcohol and drug prevention and treatment.
- National Center for Infectious Diseases: Traveler's Health – A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention site that provides health information on specific destinations. The site includes information regarding illness and injury abroad, travel tips for students traveling abroad, disaster relief workers responding to disasters internationally or domestically, outbreaks, traveling with children, special needs travelers, traveling with pets, vaccinations, safe food and water, cruise ships and air travel, travel medicine clinics, presentations for health professionals, and health hotline numbers.
- National Women's Health Information Center (NWHIC) – A national clearinghouse for women's health, sponsored by the Office on Women's Health within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It acts as a "women's health central," reducing to a single point of entry, the vast array of information available through more than 1500 Federal and private sector organizations. See also girlshealth.gov - a web site designed specifically for use by girls.
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