Applications that Aid in Medical Disaster Response Receive National Award Recognizing State IT Excellence
10/16/2019 12:00:00 AM
October 16, 2019
Emily Shimkus
651-485-1354
Developed by Minnesota IT Services and the Minnesota Department of Health, the Medical PreCheck and Point of Dispensing Locator App was recognized by the National Association for Chief Information Officers.
SAINT PAUL, MN – Minnesota IT Services (MNIT) is proud to announce that the National Association for Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) selected Minnesota’s Medical PreCheck and Locator App to receive a State IT Recognition Award. MNIT and its partners at the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) received the award in the “Digital Government: Government to Business” category for the project.
On October 15, Minnesota IT Services Commissioner Tarek Tomes, alongside representatives from the project team, accepted the award on behalf of the agency at the NASCIO Annual Conference in Nashville, TN. For over 30 years, the NASCIO State IT Recognition Awards have honored information technology projects that are impactful, transformational, and address needs within state government.
“Minnesota IT Services partners with state agencies to provide accessible information,” said Minnesota IT Services Commissioner Tarek Tomes. “When the unthinkable happens, we know Minnesotans don’t want to worry about where they can access lifesaving medicine. The Medical PreCheck and Locator App will allow for transformational delivery of services.”
“Many of our programs offer critical services that impact public health and safety, and it’s important that we work with information technology experts to provide those services in a way that is clear and accessible to Minnesotans,” Minnesota Commissioner of Health Jan Malcolm said. “We appreciate the partnership and support MNIT provides us to accomplish that goal, and this award shows that our partnership is yielding encouraging results.”
The Medical PreCheck and POD Locator App prepare Minnesota for rapid responses to public health emergencies, where efficient distribution of medications to an exposed population, potentially a very large population, can save lives. During an emergency, Point of Dispensing (POD) sites allow for the rapid distribution of life saving medicine and treatments. The Medical PreCheck App ensures that users receive a safe medication with an online pre-screening form. The POD Locator finds the nearest point of distribution for medication, as well as public transportation and parking information. Without modern technology and these applications, dispensing rates for medicines and medical countermeasures would slow to a crawl, and Minnesotans would have a difficult time finding active dispensaries.
The innovative applications provide significant value to the emergency response community, and allow for high levels of automation, reducing the potential for human error at a time when there could be significant strain on state systems. At even further benefit, the applications are built with modern technology, and stored with cloud services, ensuring that the applications are available even if it scales from zero users to thousands within minutes.
Read the press release from NASCIO’s website announcing the full list of winners here.
###
Minnesota IT Services, led by the state’s Chief Information Officer, is the Information Technology agency for Minnesota’s executive branch, providing enterprise and local IT services to over 70 agencies, boards and commissions. MNIT employs more than 2,000 people across 90 physical locations. Together, we build, maintain, and secure the State’s IT infrastructure, applications, projects and services. MNIT sets IT strategy, direction, policies and standards for enterprise IT leadership and planning. We also serve Minnesotans by connecting all 87 counties, 300 cities, and 200 public higher education campuses across the state on the MNET network. Through public-private partnerships, our team proactively protects the state’s information systems and the private data of 5.5 million Minnesotans.
Minnesota’s public health system is known as one of the best in the nation. It is built upon a strong partnership between the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH), local public health agencies, tribal governments and a range of other organizations to protect, maintain, and improve the health of all Minnesotans. It has about 1,500 employees and an annual budget of approximately $500 million in state, federal and fee-based funds.
Technology
Digital Government
