Collaborative Development of Data Extracts and Reports to Support Notifiable Disease Reporting and Analysis

Use of collaborative approaches has allowed states using the NEDSS Base System (NBS) to leverage datamart creation, report development and other data analysis efforts and share application enhancements among states. Increasing standardization offers opportunities to broaden this collaboration and facilitate sharing among states using a variety of reportable disease surveillance applications. NBS successes include reports developed with the input of individuals from multiple states, reports prepared in one states and adopted by others, datamarts developed by a state and modified by the NBS support team using input from multiple states, and reports developed at local health departments that were expanded for use statewide. An important element has been forums for collaboration and sharing. This has been accomplished through regularly scheduled usergroup calls within states and at the national level, and through use of collaboration sites to obtain feedback on drafts and to post products for dissemination. Emerging standards, such as those established through the PHIN Messaging Guides, suggest opportunities to broaden collaboration to include other systems capable of generating extracts consistent with these specifications Collaborative efforts in development of data extracts, datamarts and reports within and among states using the NEDSS Base System will be discussed, along with lessons learned and emerging opportunities for broader collaboration.