Public Health Informatics Institute

What Public Health Informatics Institute does

Public Health Informatics Institute (PHII) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 1992 in Decatur, Georgia, operating as a program of The Task Force for Global Health and affiliated with Emory University. PHII develops and disseminates methodologies, tools, and frameworks that enable public health agencies to capture, analyze, transform, and exchange health data, with core intellectual property including the trademarked Collaborative Requirements Development Methodology (CRDM)™. It serves U.S. state, territorial, local, and tribal (STLT) health departments, global ministries of health, immunization programs, and healthcare/health IT organizations, with active engagements spanning more than seven countries through the CHAMPS child mortality surveillance network and partnerships with Africa CDC, APHL, CSTE, CDC, the Gates Foundation, RWJF, and others.

PHII's offerings include the CRDM methodology for requirements development and business process analysis, the Informatics Academy for workforce training, the IIS Learning Hub, free open-access toolkits (Informatics-Savvy Health Department, Data Modernization, CAMH, IIS Procurement), and project-specific informatics infrastructure such as the CHAMPS data hub serving daily near real-time childhood mortality dashboards and MAT-LINK's multi-site surveillance on maternal/child outcomes associated with opioid use disorder. Integrations span electronic case reporting (built on CDC's RCKMS and APHL's AIMS), Epic/Cerner EHR systems, immunization information systems covering over 90% of U.S. children, and Ohio's InnovateOhio Platform.

PHII's business model is grant-funded professional services and freemium resource distribution: it provides all toolkits, training, webinars, and guidance free of charge, with operations supported by grants and donations from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, deBeaumont Foundation, and the CDC. The organization does not sell commercial products; instead it pursues revenue through direct technical assistance engagements with public health agencies, foundation-funded research and infrastructure projects, and convening partnerships — with a recent first foray into applied generative AI for pediatric audiology report classification in October 2025.

Name

Public Health Informatics Institute

Legal name

Public Health Informatics Institute

Website

https://phii.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1992

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Public Health Informatics Institute (PHII) is a Decatur, Georgia-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit that develops methodologies, tooling, and convening services to help U.S. state, local, tribal, and territorial health departments and global ministries of health modernize public health data systems and informatics practices.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Public Health Informatics Services

NAICS

Administration of Public Health Programs (92312), Other Computer Related Services (541519), Educational Support Services (611710)

SIC

Services-Computer Integrated Systems Design (7373)

akta.pro primary industry

Public Health & Immunization Data Exchange (ELR, case reporting, registry reporting) (HLACABAL)

akta.pro secondary industry

Immunization Information Systems (IIS) & Vaccine Registry Operations (HLAJAHAE)

Keywords

• Public health informatics
• Health data modernization
• Electronic case reporting
• Immunization information systems
• Requirements development methodology

Headquarters

HQ city

Decatur

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Grant Funding: PHII operates as a nonprofit program of the Task Force for Global Health, funded primarily through grants from major foundations and government agencies. Funders include the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, deBeaumont Foundation, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Revenue supports informatics research, tool development, capacity building, and project delivery rather than commercial product sales.
2. Free Public Resources and Toolkits: PHII's toolkits, guidance documents, training courses, and resources are provided for free and open access to public health practitioners. This non-commercial model supports the organization's mission to advance public health informatics globally and is supported by grant funding rather than product revenue.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Public Health Informatics Institute (PHII) provides informatics solutions development, informatics technical assistance, and guidance to public health agencies. Its core offerings include the Collaborative Requirements Development Methodology (CRDM™), technical assistance and capacity building for health departments, workforce development through the Informatics Academy, and convening of public health, healthcare, and health IT stakeholders to advance data modernization and interoperability.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Collaborative Requirements Development Methodology (CRDM) A structured, facilitated methodology used to document public health business processes, identify areas of improvement, and define functional requirements for information systems. CRDM helps stakeholders achieve consensus and keep projects on time and within scope.
• Informatics Technical Assistance and Capacity Building Direct project-based consulting and technical assistance to state, local, tribal, and territorial health departments, and global ministries of health, supporting requirements development, information system design, and data modernization.
• Informatics Academy A workforce development program offering eLearning courses and curricula that build informatics capacity across foundational areas in U.S. public health departments and global public health practice.
• PHII Resource Library and Toolkits

Quantifiable outcome

• Immunization registries maintain data on over 90% of children in almost every U.S. state, supporting nationwide vaccination tracking.
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration6 records

AI capability2 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Eleven partnerships are on record, tiered core and supporting.

• Emory Global Health InstitutecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2015PHII partners with Emory Global Health Institute on the CHAMPS (Child Health and Mortality Prevention Surveillance) project, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. PHII serves as the informatics hub, engineering data acquisition methods and providing data stewardship for the initiative that determines causes of childhood death in low- and middle-income countries.
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCDC is both a funder and strategic partner for PHII. Collaborative projects include MAT-LINK (surveillance on opioid use disorder in pregnancy), the Data Modernization Initiative, birth defects surveillance, and Digital Bridge's eCR national scaling. PHII receives CDC funding and provides informatics guidance to CDC programs.
• The Task Force for Global HealthcoreOthersPHII is a program of The Task Force for Global Health, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 1984 as the Task Force for Child Survival. The Task Force is affiliated with Emory University and provides organizational infrastructure, HR, and administrative support to PHII.
• Mozambique Ministry of HealthcoreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerPHII developed a healthcare worker allocation optimization tool for the Mozambique Ministry of Health to address the country's healthcare worker shortage, ensuring HIV testing and treatment accessibility and supporting national goals to reduce HIV transmission.
• Africa CDCcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPHII partnered with Africa CDC to establish a Central Data Repository to unify fragmented public health data across Africa and strengthen early detection, forecasting, and coordinated response to health risks.
• Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCSTE partnered with PHII on the Digital Bridge initiative and is a key partner in scaling electronic case reporting (eCR) nationally. CSTE co-leads the national eCR production environment alongside APHL and CDC.
• Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAPHL partnered with PHII on the Digital Bridge initiative. APHL's AIMS platform was foundational to the eCR architecture. APHL now co-leads national eCR production alongside CSTE and CDC.
• Emory UniversitycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPHII partnered with Emory University's Medical Nutrition Therapy for Prevention (MNT4P) program to build a digital health footprint system for Georgians with inherited metabolic disorders. The Task Force for Global Health is affiliated with Emory University.
• Apple and GooglecoreTechnology or IntegrationPHII partnered with Apple and Google (via the CDC Foundation) to develop guidance on digital contact tracing technology during COVID-19. PHII led a national forum of experts producing white papers and assessment tools to support public health authorities in evaluating appropriate exposure notification technology.
• Cerner and EpicsupportingTechnology or IntegrationCerner and Epic participated in the Digital Bridge collaboration alongside PHII, CDC, and others to connect electronic health records with public health systems for improved data exchange.
• Illinois Department of Public HealthsupportingImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerPHII worked with the Illinois Department of Public Health and health centers on piloting standards-based electronic case reporting for chlamydia and gonorrhea, demonstrating the effectiveness of automated eCR in reducing reporting burden.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE): CSTE is PHII's direct partner on the Digital Bridge eCR initiative and co-leads national eCR production alongside APHL and CDC. Both organizations concentrate on applied public health data exchange and standards work for state and local jurisdictions.
• Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO): ASTHO represents state and territorial health officials and runs parallel capacity-building and policy convening programs alongside PHII's work. PHII staff present at ASTHO Policy Summit events, indicating overlapping audiences and adjacent service offerings in public health systems improvement.
• CDC Foundation: The CDC Foundation is a nonprofit that mobilizes philanthropic and private-sector resources to support CDC priorities, including public health workforce and surveillance — the same domain PHII operates in. Both organizations act as convenors between public health agencies and external funders/technology partners, and the CDC Foundation has co-funded PHII-led initiatives like the Apple/Google digital contact tracing effort.
• Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL): APHL operates the AIMS platform that underpins the eCR architecture PHII helped design through Digital Bridge. APHL is a comparable nonprofit association building informatics infrastructure for public health practice and shares PHII's mission of enabling data exchange between healthcare and public health.
• National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO): NACCHO is a 501(c)(3) that supports local health departments with informatics and workforce capacity building, which overlaps directly with PHII's STLT health department practice. Both organizations run training, toolkits, and convening programs aimed at building local public health data capabilities.

Emerging players

• ICF International: ICF is a consulting firm with a public health practice that wins CDC and HHS technology-modernization contracts, including work that overlaps with PHII's data modernization and surveillance engagements. It represents the kind of larger systems integrator that can absorb public health informatics roles as projects scale.

Broad incumbents

• JSI (John Snow, Inc.): JSI is a global public health consulting firm that delivers informatics and health system strengthening in low- and middle-income countries — overlapping with PHII's CHAMPS and Mozambique engagements. It competes for many of the same foundation-funded contracts on data systems and surveillance capacity building.
• NORC at the University of Chicago: NORC is an independent research institution with dedicated public health and health informatics practice areas. It pursues similar grant-funded work to evaluate health programs and modernize public health data systems, making it an institutional peer for research and TA engagements.
• Health Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS): HIMSS is the largest convener and standards body for health IT, including public health informatics. While its focus is broader (across all healthcare IT), it competes for thought leadership in public health informatics training, interoperability, and analytics — adjacent spaces to PHII's Informatics Academy and webinar series.
• RTI International: RTI International is a large nonprofit research institute with a substantial public health informatics portfolio that competes for CDC, Gates, and other foundation contracts. It shares PHII's survey, surveillance, and health systems engineering work for federal and global clients.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/PHInformatics
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCFAfFQrpos8LinrPLzcGSdA
• Facebookfacebook.com/PHII.org
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/public-health-informatics-institute
• Instagraminstagram.com/phinformatics

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Public Health Informatics Institute