Nevada signs up for biosurveillance service
By Nancy zz_Ferris
Friday, August 22, 2008
A private company that offers biosurveillance services has obtained a Nevada State Health Division contract to monitor public health conditions statewide in real time.
Health Monitoring Systems of Pittsburgh will work with state officials to connect 60 hospitals, urgent care centers and other health facilities to the company’s EpiCenter service.
The service receives patient data from emergency rooms, hospital discharge records, diagnosis and treatment codes in health records, laboratory test results, and other online information. The firm's EpiCenter analytical system scans incoming data in search of abnormal patterns and notifies the health department when such patterns are found.
The system has support for public health investigations, mapping capabilities, collaboration tools, drill-down capabilities and outcomes reporting. Outcomes reporting enables public health officials to determine the severity of a disease outbreak by such indicators as how many emergency room visitors are admitted to the hospital.
EpiCenter uses a software-as-a-service delivery model, minimizing setup and maintenance burdens on users. The company grew out of the Real-Time Outbreak and Disease Laboratory operated by Carnegie-Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh.
Health Monitoring Systems has clients in 10 states, according to officials of the 2-year-old company. The Nevada contract grew out of a contract HMS has with Washoe County, where Reno is located.
Dr. Ihsan Azzam, Nevada’s state epidemiologist, said in a statement: “We were impressed by its flexibility and the possibilities [EpiCenter] presents for future surveillance. Using EpiCenter as a service will also allow us to focus on public health issues, not on technology. With the strong recommendation of the team in Washoe County, we were convinced that this was the way to go.”
The company also offers a data integration engine for health data called Mergence. Bergen County, N.J., is a customer for that service, HMS officials said.
