MDH Syndromic Surveillance Reporting

On this page:
About syndromic surveillance
Benefits of syndromic surveillance
Syndromic surveillance implementation
Additional resources

About syndromic surveillance

Syndromic surveillance provides public health officials with a timely system for detecting, understanding, and monitoring health concerns. By tracking symptoms of patients in emergency departments (EDs) and other settings, before and after a diagnosis is confirmed, all in near real-time, public health can detect unusual levels of illness or injury to determine whether a response is needed. Public health also uses syndromic surveillance data to monitor disease trends.

Syndromic surveillance systems may be utilized for situational awareness, to further characterize an outbreak beyond initial detection, to monitor the spread of an outbreak, and/or to monitor the effectiveness of outbreak response and interventions. These data help public health officials detect, monitor, and respond quickly to local public health events of importance. 

Syndromic surveillance is one of four public health reporting requirements for hospitals and health systems in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Promoting Interoperability for public health reporting rules effective January 1, 2022. Participation in syndromic surveillance is promoted by MDH and the CDC’s National Syndromic Surveillance Program (NSSP) for implementation in every state.

MDH declared readiness for Promoting Interoperability for syndromic surveillance, effective January 1, 2022. 

Benefits of syndromic surveillance

Syndromic surveillance differs from other data sources, such as electronic case reports, hospital discharge/billing data, and Electronic Health Record Consortium (EHRC) data, in the breadth of data collected resulting in the ability to monitor and identify emerging public health concerns in near-real time. Syndromic surveillance comes from electronic health records, and includes data on all visits treated at hospitals, regardless of condition. Analysis of these data, based on signs and symptoms before a confirmed diagnosis or lab test, significantly improves the timeliness of analysis and allows identification of concerns across a broad range of health conditions. Other data sources are focused on a specific diagnosis or lab test, resulting in an inability to examine other relevant conditions or identify new health issues. Furthermore, syndromic surveillance systems can integrate data from multiple sources (e.g., death certificate, poison control system, etc.) to create connected, resilient, adaptable, and sustainable systems. Having complete, accurate, and timely data is an excellent foundation for improving health outcomes.

Syndromic surveillance implementation steps

1. Connect with MDH
   Facilities interested in participating are asked to complete the MDH Interoperability Checklist (PDF) to document their intent to engage in the submission of data. Email the completed form to health.interoperability@state.mn.us and health.drugodepi@state.mn.us.
    
2. Sign participation agreement and establish technical connection 
   Syndromic surveillance onboarding is a cooperative process with the health care organization, state HIO Koble, and MDH. Health care organizations will sign a participation agreement with Koble Minnesota before establishing a technical connection. Koble will provide the data exchange partner the MDH Syndromic Surveillance Specification Document for their review along with any other technical requirements for exchanging data. 
    
3. Submit and validate data 
   Health care organizations will submit and validate data, working with Koble and MDH staff, until data meet data quality requirements and are approved to move into production status.
    
4. Attestation letter
   To request attestation letters or letters of active engagement please complete the MDH Interoperability Attestation Request Form. 

Additional resources

• CDC National Syndromic Surveillance Program (NSSP) Data Element Prioritization
  Please note a detailed MDH specification document will be shared after signing the participation agreement with Koble Minnesota.
• CDC PHIN Messaging Guide for Syndromic Surveillance (PDF)
• CDC NSSP Technical Resources

For questions regarding data analysis and data access, please visit the Syndromic Surveillance webpage or email health.drugodepi@state.mn.us. 

For more information regarding syndromic surveillance or other MDH interoperability programs, please refer to the MDH Interoperability and Public Health Reporting webpage.

For questions regarding interoperability and connecting to Koble, please email health.interoperability@state.mn.us.