Thursday, April 3, 2025
4/3/2025
Baltimore City: Strengthening Public Health Infrastructure, Workforce, and Data Systems - In order to implement a robust public health system, continue to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, and respond to future public health emergencies, we must make investments in strategic administrative and operational support initiatives. Systemic disinvestment in public health infrastructure and in our community are major factors for poorer health outcomes among our residents. As the Baltimore City Health Department (BCHD) transforms to meet the needs of an ever-changing workforce to support a well Baltimore, we must address key areas within our infrastructure. Through the Strengthening U.S. Public Health Infrastructure, Workforce, and Data Systems opportunity, BCHD intends to rebuild the public health workforce that was lost as a result of the pandemic, make strategic investments in order to increase administrative capacity, address financial sustainability, and tackle health equity and other crosscutting issues. BCHD will also modernize its data collection information technology infrastructure by implementing an Electronic Health Record (EHR) capable of meeting current and future public health needs. The EHR will support interoperability with other health systems, providing BCHD with the capability to securely and electronically share and receive public health data with hospitals and other public health partners. A1 Workforce We must invest in our people capital to achieve desired outcomes. Our approach to equity, employee satisfaction, and recruitment strategies needs to be enhanced to support a sustainable future for BCHD. BCHD seeks to rebuild, hire, retain, sustain, and train the public health workforce and strengthen our foundational capabilities in order to better address priority public health concerns in Baltimore City. BCHD will address this through increased recruitment activities to expand our pool of candidates as a desired employer, enhance staff experience during their work lifecycle through enhanced recognition, professional development, and programming that enriches the work experience and develops them as leaders and public health professionals. The outcomes to be addressed during the period of performance include increased hiring of diverse staff, increased size and capabilities of the public health workforce, improved organizational systems and processes, and stronger public health foundational capabilities. By addressing these short-term outcomes, we expect to have an impact on long-term outcomes including accelerated prevention, preparedness, and response to emerging threats and improvement in public health outcomes. A2 Foundational Capabilities BCHD is at the forefront of many public health initiatives, including COVID testing and vaccination, STI/HIV clinics and surveillance, adult reproductive health clinics, school-based clinics, maternal and child services, and lead and asthma programs. Our data collection systems are siloed and do not have the capability to integrate internally or externally with other health systems. This hinders the provision of equitable services, both in public health clinics and in mass COVID testing. BCHD will strengthen our organizational competencies in information technology by implementing a new Electronic Health Record (EHR) to better protect the public’s health and be positioned to respond to future public health emergencies. The new EHR will support interoperability with other health systems, providing BCHD with the capability to securely and electronically transmit and receive public health data with hospitals, our regional health information exchange, laboratories, and the Maryland Department of Health. At the community level, the new EHR will provide BCHD public health clinics with electronic lab ordering/resulting, a patient portal for underserved communities to access their medical records and contact providers via secure email communication 24 hours a day, and a platform for telehealth.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).