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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
Chia-Ling Liu, RN, MPH, MS1, Erin L. DeWaard, MPH1, Janet M. Farrell, BA1, Sarah Stone, BA1, Deborah Allen, ScD2, and Nancy Wilber, EdD1. (1) Bureau of Family and Community Health, Massachusetts Department of Public Health, 250 Washington Street, 5th floor, Boston, MA 02108, 617-624-5014, Penny.Liu@state.ma.us, (2) Division of Special Healthcare Needs, Massachusetts Department of Public Health, 4th fl, 250 Washington St, Boston, MA 02108
Information systems play an important role in the implementation and management of public programs, especially those programs that need to track their target population and provide follow-up services. This report presents information on the Massachusetts Childhood Hearing Data System (CHDS), a new initiative intended to provide data support to meet the goals of the Universal Newborn Hearing Screen Program (UNHSP) of ensuring that each child born in the Commonwealth receives the following: 1) hearing screen by one month, 2) audiological evaluation by 3 months, and 3) appropriate intervention services by 6 months of age. A custom system is under development and is being designated to become part of a larger in-house systems development effort that will integrate early childhood data systems at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. The CHDS is a relational database comprised of five components: Electronic Birth Certificate (EBC), hospital outpatient screens or re-screens (HOR), audiological evaluation (AE), family contact (FC), and resident call-in (RCI). The EBC and AE are currently in production while the other components are in pilot and development stages. The system will be fully deployed by June 30, 2002. Through successful collaborations of programmatic, epidemiologic, and information technology staff, the CHDS will be user-friendly, useful for facilitating the program activities, efficient for monitoring the program performance, and able to meet both federal and state confidentiality regulations. Integration of the CHDS with other programs will provide an avenue to ensure every child with special health care needs receives appropriate and efficient service delivery.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Data/Surveillance, Children With Special Needs
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I have a significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.
Relationship: Employer