The contracts are part of the Department of Health and Human Services’ initiative to test components of a national health information network in real-world environments. The CDC contracts include:
* Up to $20.1 million over five years to Health Research Inc., a Rensselaer, N.Y.-based research firm affiliated with the New York State Department of Health;
* Up to $10 million over five years to Indiana University and Regenstrief Institute Inc., Indianapolis; and
* Up to $8 million over five years to Science Applications International Corp., San Diego.
Each prime contractor is working with other stakeholders, including HIEs or RHIOs, to integrate public health and bioterrorism surveillance tools with clinical care functions.
SAIC, for instance, is working with the HIE of Spokane, Wash.-based Inland Northwest Health Services, which serves 38 hospitals. Other partners include the University of Washington School of Public Health, Spokane Regional Health Department, and the state health departments of Washington and Idaho.
The project will collect the biosurveillance minimum data set from INHS hospitals and transmit the data to public health agencies via the HIE. The project also will work to improve the compliance of physicians reporting communicable diseases to public health agencies by electronically identifying notifiable conditions. The goal is to build a more complete solution to connect clinical care and public health, says David Dobbs, SAIC program manager.
Health Research Inc. is partnering with the New York State Department of Health and six RHIOs. The project will develop tools and processes to exchange public health surveillance data over the emerging statewide health information network, says Lori Evans, deputy commissioner at the state health department.
The goal is to be able to query HIEs and receive a clinical history of infected individuals; receive data on recent clinical encounters and admissions to better track an infected person’s whereabouts; be able to issue an all-points bulletin via the HIEs on individuals or other imminent public health threats; conduct influenza surveillance by measuring the number and severity of cases; and conduct syndromic surveillance to detect outbreaks of respiratory illnesses and other conditions.
In Indiana, the Regenstrief Institute, which works closely with the Indiana Health Information Exchange, will work to adapt local surveillance tools for use at the national level.
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