Description of the MHS Health Level 7 Pharmacy Data for Public Health Surveillance
Abstract
The EpiData Center (EDC) at the Navy and Marine Corps Public Health Center evaluated the Composite Health Care System (CHCS) Health Level 7-formatted (HL7) data source for its usefulness in health surveillance activities. This technical document explains the creation of prescription records, describes the pathway of data from healthcare provider to the EDC, provides a detailed descriptions of all variables within the databases, and assesses the databases strengths and limitations. Given an understanding of the strengths and limitations of the data, HL7-formatted pharmacy data have proven to be a valuable source of health information for surveillance purposes. The data can be used for case identification when disease-specific treatment is available, can be matched with other data sources to enhance disease surveillance, or used to assess clinical practice guideline adherence for known cases. Furthermore, data are received in a timely fashion, allowing for near-real-time surveillance of diseases.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 21, 2021
- Accession Number
- AD1136825
Entities
People
- Beth Poitras
- Charlotte Neumann
- Stephen Rossi
- Tina Luse