The National Syndromic Surveillance Program (NSSP) is a collaboration among CDC, federal partners, local and state health departments, and academic and private sector partners who have formed a Community of Practice. They collect, analyze, and share electronic patient encounter data received from emergency departments, urgent and ambulatory care centers, inpatient healthcare settings, and laboratories. The electronic health data are integrated through a shared platform—the BioSense Platform also known as ESSENCE. The public health community uses analytic tools on the platform to analyze data received as early as 24 hours after a patient’s visit to a participating facility. Public health officials use these timely and actionable data to detect, characterize, monitor, and respond to events of public health concern.The number of Idaho facilities reporting emergency department data to ESSENCE is 67 total, 43 emergency departments and 24 urgent care centers. The 43 emergency department facilities currently reporting represent 97.7% of estimated emergency department annual visits in Idaho. Therefore, the number of visits is not 100% comparable and should be taken into consideration when comparing data across timeframes.For more information visit: https://www.cdc.gov/nssp/index.html. For questions about the ESSENCE query run for this dashboard, please visit the Technical Notes page. For further questions about ESSENCE, please reach out to the Division of Public Health (DPHInquiries@dhw.idaho.gov).
