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Vaughan-Batten H

Description

National and state surveillance systems for oral health have relied on sample-based screenings and self-reported surveys.1 Recent publications suggest the need and potential for use of data from syndromic surveillance systems and insurers to monitor indicators of oral health status, utilization of care, and costs of treatment.2,3 Few consensus indicators for oral health derived from these data sources exist, with the exception of a set of five ICD-9 codes comprising ambulatory care sensitive dental problems (ACS-DP).4 This paper describes North Carolina’s Disease Event Tracking and Epidemiologic Collection Tool (NC DETECT) data analyzed within CDC’s BioSense System to report state and county population-based rates of hospital emergency department (ED) utilization for ACS dental conditions.

Objective

This paper describes use of national and state syndromic surveillance systems for monitoring and evaluating usage of hospital emergency departments for ambulatory care sensitive dental problems.

 

Submitted by Magou on
Description

NC DETECT provides near-real-time statewide surveillance capacity to local, regional and state level users across NC with twice daily data feeds from 119 (99%) emergency departments (EDs), hourly updates from the statewide poison center, and daily feeds from statewide EMS runs, select urgent care centers and veterinary lab data. The NC DETECT Web Application provides access to aggregate and line listing analyses customized to users’ respective jurisdictions. Several reports are currently available to monitor the health effects of heat waves. Heat wave surveillance is essential as temperature extremes are expected to increase with climate change.

Objective

To examine the utilization of NC emergency departments for heat-related illness by age, disposition and cause based on chief complaint and triage note categorization.

Submitted by Magou on