Difference between revisions of "Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)"

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(Clinically Oriented National Center for Health Care Statistics (NCHS) Monitoring)
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[[User:Lzukowsk|Lzukowsk]] 15:53, 9 March 2013 (PST)
 
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===Clinically Oriented National Center for Health Care Statistics (NCHS) Monitoring===
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==Clinically Oriented National Center for Health Care Statistics (NCHS) Monitoring==
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National Health Care surveys provide a picture of how health care is delivered in the U.S. by collecting data from hospitals, emergency and outpatient departments, ambulatory surgery centers, nursing homes, office-based physicians, home health agencies, hospices, and others on a periodic basis. These surveys address measurement of diagnosis and treatment, characteristics of health care providers, trends in use of services, characteristics of patients, patterns of disease, use of drugs and other treatments, and emergence of alternative care sites.
 
National Health Care surveys provide a picture of how health care is delivered in the U.S. by collecting data from hospitals, emergency and outpatient departments, ambulatory surgery centers, nursing homes, office-based physicians, home health agencies, hospices, and others on a periodic basis. These surveys address measurement of diagnosis and treatment, characteristics of health care providers, trends in use of services, characteristics of patients, patterns of disease, use of drugs and other treatments, and emergence of alternative care sites.

Revision as of 00:23, 10 March 2013

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is a part of the United States Department of Health & Human Services. It was originally founded in 1946 to combat malaria[1], but the CDC exists today as a group of federally funded centers, offices, and institutes with a broader mission. The CDC partners with governmental and non-governmental organizations within the United States, and other governments and organizations around the globe to promote systematic research into health issues and to provide leadership around the application of this knowledge to population-based public health.


The CDC focuses on “five strategic areas: supporting state and local health departments, improving global health, implementing measures to decrease leading causes of death, strengthening surveillance and epidemiology, and reforming health policies.”[2]


Standardized data collection and secondary use of clinical data create a foundation for the CDC’s research, surveillance, epidemiology, prevention, and health policy activities.

Lzukowsk 15:38, 9 March 2013 (PST)

Public Health Information Network (PHIN)

The CDC promotes the development and use of standards-based information systems that are compatible with one another and with clinical care information systems. Through the Public Health Information Network[3], the CDC and its public and private partners have been advancing software components, data, and technical specifications to create interoperability between systems. Numerous activities and resources feed into these efforts[4] to establish and disseminate data interchange standards[5], vocabulary standards[6], and messaging standards[7] for public health reporting of immunizations, healthcare associated infection, early hearing detection and intervention, cancer surveillance, disease notification, and syndromic surveillance.


Specific PHIN Tools and Data Systems

Many surveillance and tracking tools have been developed by the CDC directly or in cooperation with other organizations. These include the following electronic systems.

  • Emergency Surveillance and Response Systems: The CDC has developed a vast infrastructure of databases, networks, and alerting systems for emergency surveillance and response, often in partnership with other public health entities. These systems are far too complicated to describe here, but include the Countermeasures Tracking Systems[8], multiple electronic communication portals, and electronic laboratory reporting systems. In a local, regional, or national emergency, these systems provide the infrastructure for private and public health entities (from individual clinicians to hospitals and health departments) to coordinate an effective response[9]. Early detection, effective investigation and assessment of events, and isolation of threats depend on data systems that support information exchange.


  • Epidemic Information Exchange (Epi-X): This web-based communication tool is restricted to use by public health officials. It is a tool for the exchange of information during events (e.g., foodborne illness, hurricanes, terrorist incidents) and for analysis of information following events[10].


  • National Electronic Disease Surveillance System (NEDSS)\NEDSS Base System: This health information exchange system “helps connect the healthcare system to public health departments and those health departments to CDC” and is part of the larger overarching National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System[11]. It supports the use of LOINC, SNOMED, and HL7 messaging standards.


  • WONDER Databases[12]: These are a group of interactive websites that provide data on births, deaths, AIDS, tuberculosis, morbidity, cancer, vaccine adverse events, sexuality transmitted disease, and environmental information. The CDC collects data from local jurisdictions and then compiles them for secondary use by scientists and the general public.


Lzukowsk 15:53, 9 March 2013 (PST)

Clinically Oriented National Center for Health Care Statistics (NCHS) Monitoring

National Health Care surveys provide a picture of how health care is delivered in the U.S. by collecting data from hospitals, emergency and outpatient departments, ambulatory surgery centers, nursing homes, office-based physicians, home health agencies, hospices, and others on a periodic basis. These surveys address measurement of diagnosis and treatment, characteristics of health care providers, trends in use of services, characteristics of patients, patterns of disease, use of drugs and other treatments, and emergence of alternative care sites.