Doug Drabkowski Director of Strategic Initiatives and Research The Association of Public Health Laboratories 2025 M Street, NW, Suite 550 Washington, DC

APHL’s Vision and Mission A Healthier World Through Quality Laboratory Practice The mission of APHL is to promote the role of public health laboratories in support of national and global objectives, and to promote policies and programs which assure continuous improvement in the quality of laboratory practice

Core Functions of Public Health Laboratories Disease Prevention, Control and Surveillance Integrated Data Management Reference and Specialized Testing Environmental Health and Protection Food Safety Lab Improvement, Regulation and Policy Development Emergency Response Public Health Related Research Training and Education Partnerships and Communication

Integrated Data Management Serve as focal point for the accumulation, blending and dissemination of scientific information in support of public health programs Provide for a statewide disease reporting network Linkage to national database systems Public health analysis and policy decisions Standardization of laboratory data formats Serve as epidemiology resource

Vision Statement “LIMS Meeting 2002” “ A national electronic laboratory data and information exchange network of member PHLs working together to ensure comparability, compatibility and interoperability of Laboratory Information Management (LIM) systems. A state LIM system would be integrated within the state laboratory, would include all public health testing and would interface with local health department, hospitals, and private laboratories as well.”

LIMS 2003 Survey Facts 43 States/Territories responded (81%) States/Territories may have multiple LIMS running in one PH laboratory (74% of labs are employing more than 1 system) Respondents have had their LIMS in place for an average of 7.63 years

States actively seeking to replace their LIMS between Oct & June 2004

LIMS Vendors 2002

LIMS Vendors 2003

Percentage of States using multiple LIMS

How many State LIMS are PHIN “compliant”?

Methods of Data Exchange used by PHLs 2003 * Original data broken out into above categories

Participation with PHDSC Develop electronic messaging capabilities for LIMS Address diverse PHL programs needs including bioterrorism, genetic diseases, environmental quality, radiation monitoring, food safety, newborn screening and chronic diseases. Update and maintain coding standards specific to laboratory nomenclature