A Mortality Surveillance Collaboration Between a Health System and Public Health Department

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Epidemiology
• Health Informatics

Background:

• Health systems possess nuanced clinical data crucial for understanding mortality.
• Traditional mortality identification methods using only local medical records are often insufficient.
• Integrating clinical and mortality data can enhance public health surveillance.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe the development of a collaborative mortality surveillance system.
• To evaluate the effectiveness of combining health system data with public health data.
• To highlight the benefits of such systems for quality improvement and research.

Main Methods:

• A collaboration was established between a health system and a public health department.
• A mortality surveillance system was created by integrating clinical data with mortality data.
• The system's performance was compared to local medical record data alone.

Main Results:

• The collaborative system identified over six times the number of deaths compared to local medical records.
• This integration significantly enhanced the ability to track mortality.
• The process demonstrated the power of combining clinical and mortality data.

Conclusions:

• Collaborative mortality surveillance systems significantly improve death identification rates.
• This approach enhances epidemiological research, quality improvement, and public health initiatives.
• Such systems are particularly beneficial for underserved communities, addressing health disparities.