Use Cases for CRA at the Local, State and Federal Levels: Lessons Learned

The threat of pandemic influenza, the SARS outbreaks, the anthrax attacks, and the smallpox preparedness program have demonstrated that information systems are critical to managing the response and to tracking the countermeasures administered for containment and preventing further outbreaks. Public health must be ready at all times to respond to and manage these emergencies. During a public health emergency, there is a need to manage information about the event, determine the availability of countermeasures, and track their receipt. Once countermeasures are received, there is a need to monitor their effectiveness and identify any resulting adverse events. CRA has evolved and is growing as an application to support critical business needs at multiple levels of public health.

At the federal level, CRA has been designated as the system of record for reporting pre-pandemic and pandemic vaccine doses administered during times of initial scarcity.  During CDC’s March 2007 pandemic exercise, CRA was used to report progress in reaching priority groups.

At the state level, the state of Maryland identified tracking countermeasures as an area for improvement during their 2007 state-wide pandemic exercise.  For the June 2008 Maryland state-wide pandemic exercise, CRA will be tested for anti-viral tracking in a range of clinical settings: mobile, alternate care, community.

At the local level, the County of Long Beach California used CRA in an offline capacity to track multiple vaccines and related follow up for teen clinics.

CRA has evolved significantly and is growing as an application to meet the needs of all levels of public health–local, state and federal. During the presentation, strengths, weaknesses and lessons learned will be shared for each of the settings.  Participants will be encouraged to share lessons from their own use of CRA and experiences with similar systems.