April 10 – 11, 2012
Atlanta, Georgia
Distribute was initially developed in 2006 as a proof of
concept model funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s
BioSense program, with additional funding from the Markle Foundation. During
H1N1, Distribute saw expansion in both site participation and functionality. It
has fostered new insights into syndromic surveillance practice and has initiated
the formation a community of practice focused on supporting and developing the system
as well as each other. Distribute participants have contributed greatly to the advancement
of the field of syndromic surveillance.
The goal of the 2012 ISDS Distribute
Community of Practice Meeting was to foster innovation, focus community
interests, and strengthen professional relationships through peer-to-peer
learning and information sharing about disease surveillance practice. The
meeting did not disappoint! A relevant and stimulating agenda combined with a
wonderful group of state and local Distribute data providers from across the
country and stakeholders from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC),
Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE), National Association
of County & City Health Officials (NACCHO), Association of State and
Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO), Office of the National Coordinator for
Health Information Technology (ONC), and Public Health Informatics Institute
(PHII), was the perfect recipe for an energizing and thought-provoking
environment.
Specific session topics included:
· Distribute Update
· A New Framework for the Surveillance Enterprise
· Monitoring and Maintaining Data Quality
· BioSense 2.0
· Meaningful Use: Reports from the Field on
Implementation
As a result of the meeting, most
participants indicated that they would change their practice based on what they
learned. Specifically, some participants mentioned that they will:
· use the examples of data
quality analysis presented to analyze data completeness and timeliness trends
of syndromic surveillance data
· consider the business
matrix more in order to see how their health department can use that framework
for doing surveillance
· begin serious discussions
regarding BioSense 2.0 participation and ESSENCE in the cloud
· work to enhance their
weekly surveillance reporting
· incorporate ideas and
suggestions from various states presented during the Meaningful Use
implementation session
In addition, several action
items were generated, including the development of:
· A roadmap for best practices for syndromic
surveillance business process development
· Best practices for providing feedback/reports
· Policy brief on the need for sustainable funding for
public health surveillance
As the Distribute project
draws to a close, the challenge that lies before us [the Distribute Community
of Practice] is finding the next energizing topic(s) or project(s) that will
advance the field of disease surveillance and continue to strengthen our
community.
A full meeting report will be
available shortly.
Written by Tera Reynolds, MPH, ISDS Program Manager
