Problem Summary
Data collection across a growing stream of contributing facilities and variables requires automated, consistent, and efficient monitoring of quality. Epidemiologists tasked with analyzing syndromic data need to be confident in the overall quality of their data, and aware of the effects of poor data quality when interpreting data. Data quality is also increasingly important as data are shared across jurisdictions and combined for analysis.
The city of Boston has taken a pro-active stand to increase physical activity to decrease chronic disease. Included in that plan is to increase bicycle use and accessibility. Boston has been increasing the number of bike paths and lanes, introduced a new bike-share program, and held many city-wide, high profile cycling events. The Boston Public Health Commission has been leading a task force to promote healthy and safe bicycling, in part by identifying safety concerns. Syndromic data was used to describe the current demographic profile of bicycle injury visits to Emergency Departments.
BioSense 2.0 has become a platform for technical receipt and analysis of syndromic surveillance data for many jurisdictions nationwide, as well as a collaborative effort that has engaged a larger community of syndromic surveillance practitioners, Governance Group, and federal agencies and organizations. The potential longterm benefits of BioSense 2.0 for resource and data sharing have at times been overshadowed by the short-term limitations of the system and disconnected efforts among the CoP. In May 2014, representatives from 41 jurisdictions attended a 2-day, in-person meeting where four workgroups were formed to address on-boarding, data quality, data sharing and syndrome definition in an effort to advance changes that resonate with actual surveillance practice.
Objective
This roundtable will provide a forum for the syndromic surveillance Community of Practice (CoP) to learn about activities of the BioSense 2.0 User Group (BUG) workgroups that address priority issues in syndromic surveillance. It will be an opportunity to discuss key challenges faced by public health jurisdictions in the era of Meaningful Use and identify further needs and best practices in the areas of data quality, data sharing, onboarding, and developing syndrome definitions.
One of ASTHO’s key goals is to help its jurisdictions meet member needs for technical assistance, including making informed decisions about their syndromic surveillance options. To help them make such decisions, ASTHO worked with Booz Allen to create a decision analysis model, which factors in both a Value of Information (VOI) model and a Return on Investment (ROI) model. The model provides a dashboard of its outputs, which is a simple, easy-to-understand comparative view of multiple syndromic surveillance investment scenarios.
Objective
Provide a demonstration of the recently developed prototype decision analysis model for syndromic surveillance investments. The roundtable will be used to discuss the model, obtain feedback on its usefulness, and brainstorm future uses and improvements.
The PHCP is a community-led initiative to provide shared infrastructure, services, and applications to the public health community as solutions for complex public health informatics problems. The project has progressed by establishing a governance structure led by an executive committee representative of the public health practice community. The executive committee has established the strategic path for the continued development of the PHCP and prioritized eCR as the initial use case for implementation.
Objective
To inform the community on the progress of electronic case reporting (eCR) utilizing the shared infrastructure and applications of the Public Health Community Platform (PHCP).
For much of the United States, 2014 began with extreme cold and large snowstorms. As a result, surveillance practitioners around the country have been working to identify, gather, and analyze cold weather-related data. This presentation will focus on data analysis and use for winter weather surveillance in both Indianapolis and Boston.
The Public Health Community Platform (PHCP) is a CDC-funded ASTHO project envisioned to provide Universal access to modernized shared resources that efficiently, securely, and collaboratively transform data into action for a healthier nation.