CDC Bolsters Public Health Data Strategy for Faster Threat Detection

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is enhancing its Public Health Data Strategy (PHDS) with updated milestones and a new enterprise data sharing platform, aiming to improve the nation’s public health response to emerging threats. The strategy, initially launched in 2023, focuses on streamlining data exchange between healthcare organizations, public health authorities, and across different levels of government.

Progress in 2023 and 2024

The PHDS made significant progress in 2024, and in 2023, the strategy advanced the CDC’s Data Modernization Initiative (DMI) through measurable improvements in data speed, quality, and accessibility. These advancements are designed to better connect public health to healthcare data systems and streamline workflows for faster decision-making.

Faster Data Sharing for Quicker Decisions

A key achievement in 2023 was the increase in healthcare facilities utilizing electronic case reporting (eCR). More than 36,000 healthcare facilities now send electronic case reports, a significant increase from over 25,000 in early 2023. This allows for faster receipt of data, speeding up case investigations, outbreak definition, and exposure identification, ultimately reducing the burden on healthcare partners.

Key Achievements in 2023

• Expanding Electronic Laboratory Reporting: 90% of CDC labs now electronically share data with external partners, including state, tribal, local, and territorial health departments, accelerating the dissemination of critical information.
• Routinizing Real-Time Reporting: 78% of U.S. Hospital emergency departments (EDs) provided data to the CDC within 24 hours through the National Syndromic Surveillance Program, enabling the detection and monitoring of health threats like infectious diseases, heat waves, wildfires, and opioid crises.
• Improving Data Access in Rural Communities: Implementation of eCR increased in critical access hospitals (CAHs), with 380 CAHs across the U.S. Now participating, up from approximately 300 in early 2023, facilitating faster data sharing and improved disease trend identification in rural areas.
• Establishing the Respiratory Virus Data Channel: Launched in September 2023, this tool on the CDC’s website provides data visualizations and up-to-date information on COVID-19, flu, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), receiving over 4 million visits.

Looking Ahead: 2024-2025 Strategy

The updated strategy for 2024-2025 prioritizes continued improvements in early threat detection and real-time monitoring across all levels of public health. Key focus areas include:

• Accelerating eCR Adoption: Further increasing the adoption of eCR, particularly among CAHs, to ensure rapid detection of novel and emerging threats.
• Connecting Public Health to Health IT: Utilizing the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement (TEFCA) to establish pathways for data sharing with healthcare systems and providers, enabling faster data exchange between healthcare and public health.
• Expanding Core Data Sources: Strengthening the exchange and sharing of core data sources such as wastewater, hospitalization, and hospital bed capacity, alongside improvements in data integration and visualization for real-time monitoring.
• Addressing Health Disparities: Increasing reporting on social determinants of health-related data to identify and address health disparities more effectively.

“We need a modernized public health data infrastructure that is seamlessly connected to the healthcare data and information technology ecosystem to effectively protect the health of communities across the country,” said CDC Director Mandy Cohen, M.D., M.P.H. “Data are the oxygen that powers our ability to detect and respond to health threats. Early detection and monitoring of health threats rely on timely data in order for us to investigate and respond effectively.”