Health Surveillance: Putting the Focus Back on Community

Topics for our newsletter are often born around the watercooler—derived from informal conversations about timely issues that have a significant impact on Public Health Professionals. Recently, a watercooler topic in the HMS office was “Community Health Surveillance.” So much time is spent discussing syndromic surveillance that the community element of it seems to have been lost—or forgotten.

In fact, “syndromic surveillance” is a term many didn’t recognize until the Meaningful Use guidelines were developed. Public Health Professionals were quick to note that syndromic surveillance seemed like a narrowly focused term. As new guidelines come out, this notion continues to be proven true.

So what happened to the notion of monitoring the bigger picture elements that contribute to a community’s overall health?

Health Monitoring Systems is prepared for the future—a future where Community Health Surveillance is an integral component of Public Health Professionals’ monitoring systems. We are helping our clients to monitor air quality, drinking water quality, poison control center data, and chronic disease data. This information provides a well-rounded view of a community’s overall health—and a view that goes into much more detail than simple syndromic surveillance.

When we began our company, we set forth a goal to make Community Health Surveillance accessible and customizable for those who need it most—those in Public Health. Please let us know if we can help you to establish a new surveillance system—or build upon your existing system—by adding the capability to monitor the Community Health Surveillance information you need to oversee your region’s public health.

About Health Monitoring Systems, Inc.

HMS (http://www.hmsinc.com) is a privately held company specializing in healthcare data analysis. The company processes and analyzes health‐related data in real time via a Software‐as‐a‐Service (SaaS) approach. Using this approach, HMS enables clients to increase their understanding of regional health conditions, improve quality and efficiency, and ensure regulatory compliance.