The Veterans Affairs (VA) ESSENCE obtains electronic health record data from 152 medical centers plus clinics in all 50 states, U.S. territories, and the Philippines. ESSENCE analyzes ICD-9 diagnosis codes and demographic data from outpatient and emergency department visits using complex aberrancy-detection algorithms. In 2010, a new instance was stood up (VA Inpatient ESSENCE) which receives weekly feeds of inpatient data from all VA acute care hospitals starting at the beginning of the Fiscal Year (FY10, Oct. 1, 2009). Data include demographics, admission/discharge data (including ICD-9 diagnosis codes), diagnosis related group, bedsection, procedure and surgery data.
Objective
To describe the utility of inpatient data in VA ESSENCE biosurveillance system for healthcare-associated infection and public health surveillance.