One of the standard approaches to public health surveillance for influenza is to monitor the percent of visits to about 2000 sentinel physicians for influenza-like illness (%ILI; fever plus cough or sore throat). The BioSense System currently receives (among other data) ICD-9 discharge diagnoses from Veteran’s Affairs (VA) and Department of Defense (DOD) outpatient clinics. A literature review found that, in addition to ICD-9 code 487 (the code specific for influenza), 29 other codes have been used previously to monitor influenza. We evaluated the utility of ICD-9 codes reported to BioSense for their utility in monitoring influenza.
Objective
To determine the utility of current CDC BioSense data sources in monitoring influenza activity at the national and state levels.