In order to identify challenges in health informatics, first there has to be a definition of informatics itself. Informatics is a broad discipline that utilizes information science and computer science to study the effective uses of data and information. To simply this, informatics can take raw data and turn it into usable information. Health informatics is the application of informatics in the health sector. It includes the effective use of data and technology for problem solving and decision making in order to improve health outcomes. Health informatics encompasses clinical informatics and public health informatics, which focuses on informatics at the individual and population level. There are many factors that contribute to informatics, such as the structure of information systems, the behavior of these systems, and how these systems interact with themselves and each other. Ultimately, health informatics could be defined as the study of the uses of data, information, and knowledge and how these uses can improve health on the individual and population levels.

Now that health informatics has been defined, challenges that are being faced in the area can be more easily identified. One challenge that is being faced by the health informatics discipline is the lack of a health infrastructure that can easily exchange data between different points of care. An example of this is the lack of interoperability between different health organization in terms of exchanging patient health record. While many health systems have adopted electronic health record systems such as Cerner and Epic, not all of these systems allows for easy exchange of information outside of their established ecosystems. Interoperability is important because it makes it easier for patients who receive care from providers that may be affiliated with different health systems since their health records such as previous appointment notes, referrals, and medication lists would be accessible by all of the patients providers. This would improve care by reducing medical errors such as drug interactions and it would improve the cost of care by reducing redundant testing and appointments.

An additional benefit of interoperability and health information exchange would be allowing public health agencies on both the state and federal level to have access to aggregated data that could improve population health tracking and epidemiological research on chronic diseases such as diabetes. Unfortunately, the United States lacks a unified health system and a unified health information exchange so transmitting data between different organizations can be more challenging than expected. In the end, this challenge of interoperability is extremely important for maintaining a comprehensive health record for both patients and providers while also supporting important population health tracking databases that can be used by epidemiologists and other public health professionals to improve public health initiatives.

This is an informatics challenge because it requires information science and technology to create methods and tools to effectively create health information systems. On the individual level, health information exchange systems would use the efficient exchange of patient data to identify potential health errors such as allergy and drug interactions before they happen. On the public health level, the effective exchange of this information can be used to monitor specific health concerns such as infectious diseases or chronic issues among specific population groups.  In the essay “Technology and Informatics” by Connors, Warren, and Popkess-Vawter, it is noted that informatics is “the science that encompasses information science and computer science to study the process, management, and retrieval of information.” Understanding this definition allows for explaining how the issue of information exchange and interoperability between electronic health record systems is an informatics issues. This is because the information that is being managed and retrieved is the patient’s health data and the information systems that are being devised are aiding in the storage, analysis, and dissemination of this data. In that same essay, the authors note that “the electronic health record is the central component of the health IT infrastructure.” As a result, connecting these EHR systems to allow for the flow of patient information is an informatics challenge that falls into both the clinical informatics and public health informatics spheres.

A video that explains the importance of data systems for public health professionals is linked below. In this video from the Public Health Informatics Institute, the definition of informatics is supported because it describes how informatics specialist design systems around data to support the exchange and use of information. Additionally, it explains how health information systems can benefit health professionals by creating a strong foundation of information that they can use to make informed decisions.