Surveillance Strategy Report — Our Progress
Newer. Faster. Smarter. Better.
Download and print the full Surveillance Strategy: Public Health Surveillance: Preparing for the Future [PDF – 40 Pages, 15.8 MB].
Why It Matters
CDC works around the clock to get the right information into the right hands at the right time. To meet increasing demands for speed and accuracy, we must constantly improve how we track and report illness and other health conditions. In response to recommendations to transform and modernize CDC’s surveillance systems and approaches, we are:
- Improving availability and timeliness of data
- Adopting new technologies to improve accuracy and speed of disease reporting
- Reducing reporting burden on health departments
- Maximizing performance of agency resources
sur·veil·lance
/sər’vāləns/
Public health surveillance is defined as the regular collection, analysis, use, and sharing of data to prevent and control disease and injury.
Source: MMWR. 2012;61(Suppl):1–40.
| 2014 | 2018 | Impact | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mortality records collected electronically from states within 10 days | 29% | 63% | Faster notification of cause of death |
| U.S. population represented by states and jurisdictions implementing modernized electronic messages to send notifiable disease case reports to CDC | N/A | 80% | Easier for states to report to CDC |
| Emergency department visits reported electronically to health departments | 45% | 60% | Faster understanding of emerging health threats |
| Laboratory reports received electronically at state health departments** | 54% | 80% | More timely lab reporting to expedite tracking disease |
* Percentage change furthered by CDC Surveillance Strategy (as of September 2018); provisional data represented
** Approximately 20 million laboratory reports are received annually at health departments
System Improvements in Public Health Surveillance: Why It Matters
Peter Briss, MD, MPH,
Jason Bonander, MA
Timely and accurate data at the local level ensures a fuller picture of health, better decision making, and faster public health action.
Keywords: chronic disease, informatics, electronic health record