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The Memphis Pandemic Health Informatics System (MEMPHI-SYS)—Creating a Metropolitan COVID-19 Data Registry Linked Directly to Community Testing to Enhance Population Health Surveillance

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 December 2022

David L. Schwartz ,
Altha Stewart ,
Laura Harris ,
Esra Ozdenerol ,
Fridtjof Thomas ,
Karen C. Johnson ,
Robert Davis  and
Arash Shaban-Nejad
David L. Schwartz*
Affiliation:
Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Medicine, Memphis, TN, USA Department of Preventive Medicine, University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Medicine, Memphis, TN, USA
Altha Stewart
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of Tennessee Health Sciences Center College of Medicine, Memphis, TN, USA Office of Community Health Engagement, University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Medicine, Memphis, TN, USA
Laura Harris
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of Tennessee Health Sciences Center College of Medicine, Memphis, TN, USA Office of Community Health Engagement, University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Medicine, Memphis, TN, USA
Esra Ozdenerol
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, Spatial Analysis and Geographic Education Laboratory, University of Memphis, Memphis, TN, USA
Fridtjof Thomas
Affiliation:
Department of Preventive Medicine, University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Medicine, Memphis, TN, USA
Karen C. Johnson
Affiliation:
Department of Preventive Medicine, University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Medicine, Memphis, TN, USA
Robert Davis
Affiliation:
University of Tennessee Health Science Center—Oak Ridge National Laboratory Center for Biomedical Informatics, Oak Ridge, TN, USA Department of Pediatrics, University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Medicine, Memphis, TN, USA
Arash Shaban-Nejad*
Affiliation:
University of Tennessee Health Science Center—Oak Ridge National Laboratory Center for Biomedical Informatics, Oak Ridge, TN, USA Department of Pediatrics, University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Medicine, Memphis, TN, USA
*
Corresponding authors: David L. Schwartz, Email: dschwar4@uthsc.edu; Arash Shaban-Nejad, Email: ashabann@uthsc.edu.
Corresponding authors: David L. Schwartz, Email: dschwar4@uthsc.edu; Arash Shaban-Nejad, Email: ashabann@uthsc.edu.
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Abstract

The current coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has placed unprecedented strain on underfunded public health resources in the Southeastern United States. The Memphis, TN, metropolitan region has lacked infrastructure for health data exchange.

This manuscript describes a multidisciplinary initiative to create a community-focused COVID-19 data registry, the Memphis Pandemic Health Informatics System (MEMPHI-SYS). MEMPHI-SYS leverages test result data updated directly from community-based testing sites, as well as a full complement of public health data sets and knowledge-based informatics. It has been guided by relationships with community stakeholders and is managed alongside the largest publicly funded community-based COVID-19 testing response in the Mid-South. MEMPHI-SYS has supported interactive Web-based analytic resources and informs federally funded COVID-19 outreach directed toward neighborhoods most in need of pandemic support.

MEMPHI-SYS provides an instructive case study of how to collaboratively establish the technical scaffolding and human relationships necessary for data-driven, health equity-focused pandemic surveillance, and policy interventions.

Keywords

COVID-19data registryhealth disparitieshealth informaticspandemic responsepublic health
Type
Concepts in Disaster Medicine
Information
Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness , Volume 17 , 2023 , e326
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Inc.

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