Utility of Syndromic Surveillance Using Novel Clinical Data Sources

Discusses the current state of syndromic surveillance using inpatient and ambulatory clinical data in the United States and the potential utility of the data. The Meaningful Use Stages 2 and 3 regulations incentivize the use of these data sources. Existing systems effectively perform a range of activities from influenza-like illness surveillance to heart disease risk factor surveillance. With further development, ambulatory and inpatient data could become an integral part of syndromic surveillance practice.

Objective

To document the current evidence base for the use of electronic health record (EHR) data for syndromic surveillance using emer- gency department, urgent care clinic, hospital inpatient, and ambula- tory clinical care data.