AGENCY: Department of Health and Human Services. Community Health and Well-Being. Division of Population Health

SERIES: 31088
TITLE: ESSENCE exports - syndromic surveillance data
DATES: 2013-
ARRANGEMENT: Numerical by encounter number and unique patient identifier.

DESCRIPTION: ESSENCE (Electronic Surveillance System for the Early Notification of Community based Epidemics) is a tool that allows the Division to export data from BioSense, the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)-housed database for syndromic surveillance data. Syndromic surveillance data is electronic patient encounter data received from emergency departments, urgent cares, and primary care facilities. The Division uses this data for disease trend monitoring and early detection of novel threats.

Privacy Annotation:

This data includes PII, including patient encounter date, patient ID number, demographics of patient (age, race, ethnicity, sex), and residency of patient (as granular as zipcode). The Division is authorized to collect this PII under Utah Code 26B-7-2 and 26B-1-202. It is necessary to collect PII to be able to monitor trends and detect threats in specific populations, allowing for as granular a public health response as possible. Further, syndromic surveillance can be used to identify undiagnosed cases in facilities, and PII allows public health to follow up with physicians about potentially missed reportable cases.

RETENTION

Retain for 5 year(s)

DISPOSITION

Destroy.

RETENTION AND DISPOSITION AUTHORIZATION

Retention and disposition for this series were specifically approved by the Records Management Committee.

APPROVED: 01/2025

FORMAT MANAGEMENT

Computer data files: Retain in Office for 5 years and then delete.

APPRAISAL

Administrative

PRIMARY DESIGNATION

Exempt. Utah Code 26B-7-217 through 220

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