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Distributed data processing for public health surveillance.

Ross Lazarus1, Katherine Yih, Richard Platt

  • 1Channing Laboratory, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA. ross.lazarus@channing.harvard.edu

BMC Public Health
|September 21, 2006
PubMed
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Public health surveillance can use distributed systems to protect personal health information (PHI). This model processes data locally, sending only aggregated counts, reducing PHI disclosure risks and enhancing participation.

Area of Science:

  • Public Health
  • Health Informatics
  • Epidemiology

Background:

  • Traditional public health surveillance often requires centralized collection of personal health information (PHI).
  • Concerns over PHI privacy may limit participation in non-traditional public health surveillance.
  • Alternative methods are needed to address privacy concerns while maintaining effective surveillance.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To evaluate an alternative model for public health surveillance that minimizes the collection of identifiable PHI.
  • To assess the feasibility and benefits of a distributed processing approach for syndromic surveillance.

Main Methods:

  • The National Bioterrorism Syndromic Surveillance Demonstration Program (NDP) utilizes a distributed model.
  • Healthcare providers process PHI locally using NDP-provided software.

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  • Only aggregated count data is transferred to a central datacenter.

    • Main Results:

    • Patient-level data remains accessible to healthcare providers for detailed analysis.
    • The distributed model significantly reduces the risk of inadvertent PHI disclosure.
    • This approach can facilitate participation in surveillance systems.

    Conclusions:

    • Distributed processing models can be effectively deployed for syndromic surveillance with minimal PHI risk.
    • This model enhances the feasibility and appeal of surveillance systems for organizations and individuals.
    • Distributed systems can support both routine and non-routine public health needs.