title: Evaluation of electronic ambulatory care data for influenza-like illness surveillance, Washington State.
abstract: A growing number of outpatient providers utilize electronic health records (EHR) to identify patient visits for influenza-like illness (ILI) but no standard query guidance exists. We applied an ILI definition validated for emergency department data to EHR from outpatient networks and found ILI visits highly correlated with influenza laboratory detections. Incorporating ambulatory EHR into our ILI surveillance system increased the capacity by more than 300%. Electronic ambulatory care data could be used to augment or replace public health surveillance systems traditionally reliant on manual reporting.
authors.affiliation: Washington State Department of Health, Shoreline, Washington (Ms Stigi and Dr Lofy); Public Health - Seattle & King County, Seattle, Washington (Drs Baer and Duchin); and University of Washington, Seattle, Washington (Dr Duchin).
authors.forename: Kathleen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Stigi
authors.forename: Atar
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Baer
authors.forename: Jeffrey S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Duchin
authors.forename: Kathy
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Lofy
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000553:Ambulatory Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D057286:Electronic Health Records; D004632:Emergency Medical Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D053118:Influenza A Virus, H1N1 Subtype; D007251:Influenza, Human / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D062486:Public Health Surveillance / Q000379:methods*; D014861:Washington / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult