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Check! Explore Barriers and Solutions to Data Sharing on BioSense 2.0

Description

Inter-jurisdictional data sharing can enhance disease surveillance capabilities for local, state, regional and national public health situational awareness and response. BioSense 2.0, a cloud-based computing platform for syndromic surveillance, provides participating local, state and federal health jurisdictions with the ability to share aggregated data; a functionality that is easily activated by selecting an administrative checkbox within the BioSense application. Checking the data-sharing box, however, is a considerable decision that comes with benefits and consequences. On May 20-21, 2013, nine city, county, and state public health department jurisdictions (mainly from the mid-western region of the U.S.) met to explore data sharing for Heat Related Illness (HRI) surveillance using BioSense 2.0. During the workshop, all participants agreed to share data (using the BioSense 2.0 front-end application) in real-time to investigate HRI trends in regional populations during May-August 2012, evaluated HRI case-definitions, and documented benefits and barriers to inter-jurisdictional data sharing. The workshop was convened by ISDS, in collaboration with the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO), with the support of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Staff from BioSense programmatic and technical teams were also present for the workshop.

Objective

Build upon the findings of a Regional Data Sharing workshop with the larger surveillance community to more clearly describe the benefits, barriers, and needs for data sharing on the BioSense 2.0 platform.

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