Dallas County Health and Human Leverages Data Modernization to Address Public Health Conditions

Dallas County Health and Human Services (DCHHS) has been recognized as a 2023 HIMSS Public Health Davies Award recipient.

DCHHS is a public health department responsible for providing public health and social services that protect the health and well-being of more than 2.6 million people in Dallas County, Texas.

To combat the COVID-19 pandemic, DCHHS employed a variety of enterprise-level software solutions to manage and automate a huge increase in data volume without sacrificing data quality; conduct large-scale contact tracing to understand and control spread; and improve disease investigation workflows and data visualizations to reduce the burden placed on public health professionals.

The work serves as an exemplary and important foundation for data modernization efforts to address other important public health conditions.

Dallas County Health and Human Services Case Study:
Dallas County Public Health Disease Surveillance and Investigation System

The Davies Award for Public Health reflects the work of public health organizations leveraging information and technology to enhance core public health services and drive faster, more actionable intelligence to improve community health.

“We are honored to be recognized as a HIMSS Davies Public Health Award Recipient,” said Dr. Philip Huang, director of DCHHS. “While COVID-19 was an unprecedented public health challenge for all of us, it also served as an opportunity for us to apply and implement cutting edge technology to address this and future public health issues.

“We are thankful for the collaborative work from everyone at DCHHS, Accenture, Parkland Hospital System, the Parkland Center for Clinical Innovation, the Texas Department of State Health Services and our other partners to help us build a state-of-the-art infrastructure for public health data that should prepare us for the future. This collaborative effort is an example of the importance and capability of information and technology to improve the health and wellness of the people of Dallas County.”

HIMSS Davies Award of Excellence

The Davies Awards program promotes the HIMSS vision and mission by recognizing and highlighting use cases, model practices and lessons learned on how to improve health and wellness through the power of information and technology. Showcasing healthcare delivery systems, physician practices, community health organizations, long term and post-acute care sites and public health organizations, the HIMSS Davies Award shares evidence-based case studies that are driving the reform of the global healthcare ecosystem through the power of information and technology.