HLN Consulting, LLC – Software and Services for Public Health

Discussion Paper: Address Geocoding Options

by Noam Arzton September 30, 2016

Some organizations have the need for a web application that can translate street addresses into latitude/longitude coordinates. Ideally, the web application could process addresses in bulk, either supplied from an Excel spreadsheet or from an enterprise data source such as a relational database; and output would be either in spreadsheet format or inserted back into a database. This brief discussion paper provides some potential solutions and strategies.

HLN Participates in 2016 CDC Public Health Informatics Conference

by Noam Arzton August 24, 2016

HLN attended and actively participated in the 2016 Public Health Informatics Conference sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). We presented the following topics:

(B11) Current Approaches to Patient Matching: Will We Ever Get Anywhere?

(C9) How Can Public Health Benefit from Being an Open-Source Community?

(D3) Trying on the RCKMS Glass Slipper: How Well Do Jurisdictional Reporting Criteria Fit? (HLN’s part of this larger session encompasses slides 55-67 and slides 82-103)

(G7) A Common Open Source Clinical Decision Support Administration Tool for Public Health

The Reduction of State-coordinated HIE: How Should Public Health React?

by Noam Arzton August 2, 2016

A recent article in HealthAffairs describes a significant decline in the number of both operational HIEs and HIEs in the planning stage from several years earlier. The authors note continuing barriers to broad-based HIE and a shift to vendor-driven exchange which diminishes the effectiveness of community-based networks. In effect, this translates to a shift away from geographic-based/dominated HIEs to product-dominated HIEs. We have already noted (see The Interoperability of Things) the lack of a national strategy on HIE, and ONC’s Nationwide Interoperability Roadmap barely mentions the concept.

Encrypting Data at Rest on Servers: What does it get you?

by Noam Arzton July 25, 2016

By Noam H. Arzt and Michael Berry

It is common practice today to encrypt data at rest, that is, data stored on servers. To build off an old adage, no one ever got fired for encrypting their data. But what protection does that really provide? Is just encrypting data enough?

First, let’s distinguish between three methods for encrypting data at rest.

HLN Supports Open Source ICE Deployment by VHA

by Noam Arzton July 19, 2016

HLN Consulting is pleased to announce a new project with the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) which will result in the incorporation of HLN’s Open Source ICE Immunization Evaluation and Forecasting software into VistA, the EHR used by VHA, and its deployment system-wide over the next few years. VHA is the largest health system in the US (other than the Department of Defense). HLN has been collaborating with VHA and its Open Source partners in the Open Source Electronic Health Record Alliance (OSEHRA) for the past several years. This represents a major step forward for the Open Source movement in government and for higher quality immunization forecasting and evaluation. For more information contact Noam Arzt (arzt@hln.com) or Mike Suralik (suralik@hln.com).