Providing access to applicable public health and healthcare partners to the National Syndromic Surveillance Program (NSSP) BioSense Platform is part of the Goal and Objectives of the Virginia Syndromic Surveillance Advisory Group (VSSAG).
In order for public health and healthcare partners to gain access to the NSSP BioSense Platform, individuals must first read and agree to the terms laid out in the Virginia User Policy.
Background on NSSP BioSense
The National Syndromic Surveillance Program (NSSP) promotes and advances development of a syndromic surveillance system for the timely exchange of syndromic data. These data are used to improve nationwide situational awareness and enhance responsiveness to hazardous events and disease outbreaks to protect America’s health, safety, and security. NSSP functions through collaboration among individuals and organizations at local, state, and federal levels of public health; federal agencies including the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs; public health partner organizations; and hospitals and health professionals.
To support national emergency preparedness, the U.S. Congress passed legislation and appropriated funding to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to establish an integrated national public health surveillance system for early detection and rapid assessment of bioterrorism-related events. To meet this need, CDC launched BioSense in 2003. Since 2011, the focus has expanded to situational awareness for all-hazards preparedness and response. The NSSP provides syndromic surveillance practitioners access to and use of the cloud-based BioSense Platform, a secure integrated electronic health information system with standardized analytic tools and processes. These tools enable users to rapidly collect, evaluate, share, and store syndromic surveillance data. By using the BioSense Platform, health officials can analyze syndromic data to improve their common awareness of health threats over time and across regional boundaries.