The National Electronic Disease Surveillance System (NEDSS) project is a public health initiative to provide a standards-based, integrated approach to disease surveillance and to connect public health surveillance to the burgeoning clinical information systems infrastructure. NEDSS will improve the nation’s ability to identify and track emerging infectious diseases (including potential bioterrorism attacks), investigate outbreaks, and monitor disease trends.

DeVine's Communicable Disease Surveillance System (CDSS) conforms to National Electronic Disease Surveillance System (NEDSS) standards and Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) requirements and provides security that protects the confidentiality of client data. CDSS Online also has the ability to integrate data with current Public Health case management and referral systems.

CDSS is an enterprise-wide, distributed architecture harnessing Web Services technology to gather data from multiple sources, including web-based interfaces, native Windows clients, and industry-standard data transmission protocols.  By gathering case reports and lab results into a central database, public health workers can review incoming reports and analyze data for crucial patterns.  Intelligent business object representations and GIS plug-in capability give case managers a broad yet detailed view to sift through large volumes of data and identify patterns.  Furthermore, an intelligent monitor constantly applies data-mining techniques to flag potential outbreaks and bioterrorism events.

CDSS provides the following features:

• Case investigation
• Workflow tracking and epidemiological analysis tools
• The ability of Public Health Department (PHD) to identify and analyze bio-terrorism events
• Case management tools, integrated contacts list
• Task management capabilities
• Integration with Graphical Information Systems, for visual display of outbreaks and cases
• Outbreak management system
• Threshold notification system, which notifies Public Health Personnel based upon key indicators
• Integrated Bioterrorism algorithms which mine existing data for key trends

CDSS includes a Task/Reminder System allows user to send messages to system users to remind them of pending tasks sort of like a (Tickler System). The reminders can be generated both automatically from the system based on a table of business rules. The Task/Reminder System can be accessed by any system user for themselves or for other system users. Users also have the option of linking reminders to a case so that the reminder shows up on the case screen in addition to appearing upon user log-in.

The CDSS system provides a client data registry system for adding, editing viewing, and searching client’s demographic information. Once data for a client is added to the system a staff member can access this data. 

The CDSS GIS Mapping module enables the user to navigate through the map to find more detailed information regarding the mapped cases.  The filters allow users to view cases of a specific disease, diseases in a certain time period, diseases by client demographic information or diseases by geographical area.

Upon identifying an outbreak, CDSS automatically assembles a public health response team and alert the team members and emergency responders.  To achieve this, the system features communications module able to send and receive alerts to multiple device types across an array of networks, from phones and faxes to pagers and text-enabled cell phones.  CDSS’s modular system architecture allows expansion for additional types of communications devices as they become available.