WASHINGTON – In an effort to improve the U.S. healthcare system's ability to monitor flu outbreaks or bioterrorism, a system that continually feeds emergency room data to public health authorities is needed, HHS Secretary Michael Leavitt on Friday told a federal advisory body.

This weekend, Leavitt plans to travel to East Asia to areas affected by avian influenza, a deadly virus that has infected more than 115 people in Asia. Fearing an avian flu pandemic, the White House is urging several counties to improve their reporting of disease information.

"As secretary of Health and Human Services, I feel an urgent need for improved bio-surveillance in this country to help protect us from both pandemics and bioterrorism. Preparation for these threats must become a national priority," Leavitt told members of the American Health Information Community, a 17-member public-private group charged with advising the federal government on standards to help healthcare IT systems communicate.

Leavitt, who chairs AHIC, said he wants a system for streaming ER data to public health authorities by the end of 2006. Currently, it takes public health officials weeks to receive such data. It should take a matter of hours, he said.

AHIC, which met for the first time Friday, will begin work on projects dealing with consumers, health improvement and public health protection. In addition to the ER data initiative, one project could involve an online medication list for patients, similar to an initiative to provide medication data for hurricane evacuees in the Gulf Coast whose paper medical records were destroyed by the storms. Leavitt said although the system isn't perfect, it shows what can be done in a short time period.

"Incremental progress trumps perpetually deferred perfection," he told AHIC.

Other projects might include development of a childhood immunization registry, initiatives that tackle healthcare quality reporting, systems that help monitor patients with chronic disease and creation of personal health records for consumers.

AHIC will decide on several projects, which will be assigned to work groups that will then report back to AHIC. AHIC will soon name the members of those groups. Federal staff will start the work groups, which will be chaired by one federal employee and one person from the private sector, according to National Health Information Technology Coordinator David Brailer, MD. By the end of the year, three to four different groups with specific goals and accountability to AHIC will be in place, Brailer said.

AHIC's next meeting will focus on electronic prescribing to see what, if any, recommendations the group should make in this area.

Leavitt acknowledged that interoperability in healthcare would be a long, difficult process.

"Progress will come in phases. Each phase must produce value and prepare for the next," he said.