What is Syndromic Surveillance?
Syndromic Surveillance refers to the collection and analysis of health data about a clinical syndrome that has significant impact on the health of the population. Health data collected for SS could include patient visit identifier, race, gender, zip code, reason for visit (chief complaint), diagnostic codes, etc.
The collected health data can then be analyzed to find various syndromes such as influenza like illness, food-borne illness, heart disease, etc. The analysis can then be used to determine if there is a significant impact on public health is a specific area or region. Syndromic data does not include information that would specifically identify the person seeking health care services such as patient name, address of residence, social security number, etc.
What is SSEDON?
The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services developed the Syndromic Surveillance Event Detection of Nebraska (SSEDON) system to collect and analyze syndromic data from healthcare facilities in Nebraska. SSEDON is made up of collected de-identified patient information and various tools to analyze that health data.
For Stage 1 MU: The Hospital, CAH or EP must perform at least one test of the certified Electronic Health Record (EHR) technology’s capacity to provide electronic syndromic surveillance data, ELR, or Immunization data to public health agencies and follow-up submission if the test is successful.
For Stage 2 MU: The Hospital or CAH must provide successful ongoing submission of electronic syndromic surveillance data from Certified EHR Technology to public health agencies for the entire EHR reporting period. EPs have the option to choose electronic SS reporting as one of their menu objectives. If chosen as one of the menu objectives then the EP must also provide successful ongoing submission of electronic SS data from Certified EHR Technology to public health agencies for the entire EHR reporting period.
NDHHS is currently able to receive the following:
Immunization Data:
File Specifications: HL7 2.3.1 or 2.5.1
Transport Method: PHINMS Bi-directional exchange available
File Specifications: HL7 2.3.1 or HL7 2.5.1
Transport Method: PHINMS Emergency
Department Syndromic Surveillance:
File Specifications: HL7 2.5.1
Transport Method: PHINMS
Inpatient Facility Syndromic Surveillance:
File Specifications: HL7 2.5.1
Transport Method: PHINMS
NDHHS is not able to receive Syndromic data from EPs at this time.
Emergency Department Syndromic Surveillance:
The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services collects near real-time data from emergency room(ER) department discharge records. This system was started in 2009 to enhance our timeliness to track adverse health outcomes, identify outbreaks, and assist the health community with emergency response.
Inpatient Syndromic Surveillance:
The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services (NDHHS) has developed an inpatient surveillance system to expand the scope of syndromic surveillance, strengthen current surveillance capabilities, and improve the effective practice of public health in Nebraska. The inpatient surveillance project is aimed to detect, track, and analyze disease events to establish at-risk populations, develop effective prevention plans, monitor trends in morbidity, and ultimately improve population health through better, more timely, disease surveillance.
Please see the links below for further information on electronic syndromic surveillance reporting.
Gary White
(402) 471-6509