Noel Clarin, public health informatics and IT director for Fairfax County Health Department, speaks Monday at HIMSS25 in Las Vegas.
Photo: Jeff Lagasse/Healthcare Finance News
LAS VEGAS – Fairfax County Health Department in Northern Virginia was in a unique position: It’s the largest county and health district in the state, and only one of three that’s locally administered. It also experienced a wake-up call during the COVID-19 pandemic: The outbreak created chaos at the local level in the state, and the organization knew that in order to make it out of the chaos intact, it would have to modernize its data.
“We knew we had to change,” said Noel Clarin, public health informatics and IT director for Fairfax County Health Department, speaking Monday at HIMSS25 in Las Vegas.
According to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, the use of health informatics can reduce inpatient mortality rates by up to 15%. And facilities that leverage health informatics tools have experienced a 25% decrease in the duration of patient stays, and a 19% reduction in the likelihood of readmission within 30 days.
The modernization effort focused on the three core components of people, processes and technologies – all of which are critical, said Clarin.
It started with the people. The health department secured champions who supported the work – boots-on-the-ground people who understood how things worked, and who would help to lift the initiative up. The team engaged stakeholders and enlisted leadership to invest in the efforts with resources and sponsorship.
The health department then evaluated the current state of its processes, mapped out its future objectives and developed frameworks and governance to enhance and standardize the project’s management strategies.
Technology-wise, the health department modernized its infrastructure with upgraded systems so work could not only be done more efficiently, but could be scaled and intraoperative.
The health department has noted a number of achievements in the years since it began this effort, including an expanded informatics and IT staff, more funding opportunities and new partnerships with county agencies, including legal and Enterprise Department of IT.
“Over time, policies change,” said Clarin. “People change, technology changes. So you have to revisit the way you do your work.”
Jeff Lagasse is editor of Healthcare Finance News.
Email: [email protected]
Healthcare Finance News is a HIMSS Media publication.
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