The Illinois Department of Public Health on Monday announced that it has received a $1.2 million CDC grant to create a state Web-based public health data center with comprehensive health information from multiple sources, Government Technology reports.
The center, called the Illinois Health Data Dissemination Initiative, will amass health statistics and information from various state agencies when users make a request for information.
"For example, if someone asked the system for information about diseases related to obesity, the system would be able to provide weight and population statistics from the Illinois Department of Public Health, medical insurance access information from the Department of Healthcare and Family Services and diabetes data from the Department of Human Services," Eric Whitaker, director of the state department of public health, said.
The IHDDI is intended to enhance the state's ability to:
- Monitor progress in national, state and community health initiatives;
- Assess information for public health policy development; and
- Track progress in addressing health disparities among various populations.
A multi-agency steering committee and an advisory committee comprised of local health departments, colleges, universities, and private sector and not-for-profit organizations will collaborate to create the data center over a five-year period,
Government Technology reports. State, academic, private and public users will have access to IHDDI once it goes live.
Other databases outside of state agencies in the future might be incorporated with the Web-based system (
Government Technology, 9/10).