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ISDS 2016 Conference Abstracts

Administrative and syndromic surveillance data can 
enhance public health surveillance
Tara C. Anderson*, Hussain Yusuf, Amanda McCarthy, Katrina Trivers, Peter Hicks, 
Michael Coletta and Violanda Grigorescu
Division of Health Informatics and Surveillance, Center for Surveillance, Epidemiology, and Laboratory Services, Office of Public 
Health Scientific Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, USA

Objective
This roundtable will address how multiple data sources, including 

administrative and syndromic surveillance data, can enhance public 
health surveillance activities at the local, state, regional, and national 
levels. Provisional findings from three studies will be presented to 
promote discussion about the complementary uses, strengths and 
limitations, and value of these data sources to address public health 
priorities and surveillance strategies.

Introduction
Healthcare data, including emergency department (ED) and 

outpatient health visit data, are potentially useful to the public 
health community for multiple purposes, including programmatic 
and surveillance activities. These data are collected through several 
mechanisms, including administrative data sources [e.g., MarketScan 
claims data1; American Hospital Association (AHA) data2] and 
public health surveillance programs [e.g., the National Syndromic 
Surveillance Program (NSSP)3]. Administrative data typically become 
available months to years after healthcare encounters; however, data 
collected through NSSP provide near real time information not 
otherwise available to public health. To date, 46 state and 16 local 
health departments participate in NSSP, and the estimated national 
percentage of ED visits covered by the NSSP BioSense platform is 
54%. NSSP’s new data visualization tool, ESSENCE, also includes 
additional types of healthcare visit (e.g., urgent care) data. Although 
NSSP is designed to support situational awareness and emergency 
response, potential expanded use of data collected through NSSP 
(i.e., by additional public health programs) would promote the utility, 
value, and long-term sustainability of NSSP and enhance surveillance 
at the local, state, regional, and national levels. On the other hand, 
studies using administrative data may help public health programs 
better understand how NSSP data could enhance their surveillance 
activities. Such studies could also inform the collection and utilization 
of data reported to NSSP.

Keywords
Administrative data; Syndromic surveillance; Public health 
surveillance

References
1Truven Health Analytics. MarketScan Research Databases. Truven 

Health Analytics website. http://truvenhealth.com/your-healthcare-
focus/analytic-research/marketscan-research-databases. Accessed 
September 9, 2016.

2American Hospital Association (AHA). AHA Data and Directories. 
AHA website. http://www.aha.org/research/rc/stat-studies/data-and-
directories.shtml. Accessed September 9, 2016.

3Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). National Syndromic 
Surveillance Program. CDC website. http://www.cdc.gov/nssp/.  
Last updated July 29, 2016. Accessed September 9, 2016.

*Tara C. Anderson
E-mail: TCAnderson1@cdc.gov

Online Journal of Public Health Informatics * ISSN 1947-2579 * http://ojphi.org * 9(1):e165, 2017