Lab Matters Fall 2017 | Page 27

informatics

by Michelle Meigs, manager, Informatics

To be impactful, public health data needs to get into the right hands at the right time and place. This has never been more evident than in the Antibiotic Resistance( AR) Laboratory Network( ARLN), where member laboratories are charged with detecting existing and emerging types of antibiotic resistance across the nation, and ensuring that local and federal experts have the timely information they need to combat these threats.

As the ARLN launched and public health laboratory AR testing capability grew, it was clear that support for informatics solutions had to evolve at the same time. Under the guidance of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’ s( CDC’ s) AR coordination team, APHL’ s Informatics program was about to embark upon an exciting journey.

There were two problems to solve. The first was how to get 55 public health laboratories to report standardized AR laboratory data for a number of different pathogens to a multitude of CDC Programs. The second was how to enable efficient ordering and timely resulting for carbapenem resistant Enterobacteriaceae( CRE) colonization testing at the regional public health laboratory level.

The answer to both was a portal. The word“ portal” has been bouncing around the informatics world for some time, but in the case of the ARLN more precision was required.

ARLN’ s Approach

To support reporting on a national scale, the ARLN reporting portal was developed and deployed on the APHL Informatics Messaging Service( AIMS) Platform. The reporting portal was designed to capture critical AR data from public health laboratories, map it into a database and allow CDC programs to download and import these data into their systems.

To support CRE Colonization Test order and Resulting with a two-day reporting turn-around time requirement, APHL competitively selected a commercial, off-the-shelf solution called“ Lab Web Portal.” This unique solution is a fullyrealized web portal deployed on AIMS as a centrally hosted service. As this project matures, there is great potential for an AIMS-hosted test order and result portal to support surge capacity, epidemiological test approval and prioritization, and other emerging public health needs.

Evolution of portal solutions

Portals have been in use for some time on AIMS in a variety of ways, but ARLN was the first project where we truly had to identify the varying flavors of portals and look at the evolving need for such services.

CDC’ s Poxvirus and Rabies Branch was the first program to specify requirements and deploy a reporting portal to support rabies electronic laboratory reporting( ELR) data submission. The rabies portal served as the prototype for the ARLN reporting portal. APHL plans to“ pay it forward” as we continue to collaborate with the Rabies program on the portal’ s utility, building on lessons learned during the ARLN project.

As AIMS continues to grow technical roots from a simple data exchange service to a cloud-based platform supporting national informatics initiatives, we expect the technical footprint of portal solutions to grow, allowing users to collect, interact with and exchange data in new and innovative ways. ■

institutional research

The Public Health Laboratory Systems Database( PHLSD), developed by APHL and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention( CDC), allows member laboratories to maintain key information in an easy-to-use database of testing( clinical and environmental) and equipment data. By contributing to the database, members support the development of a national testing directory accessible to participating laboratories, select CDC partners and APHL staff. This directory will provide public health laboratory stakeholders with important information that can be leveraged during public health emergencies. It will also encourage collaboration among laboratories.

The PHLSD is available to all member laboratories, and training webinars are provided. To sign up for a PHLSD training and find out more about the database’ s benefits, contact Jacob Rosalez at jacob. rosalez @ aphl. org. ■