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

Authors

David L. Schwartz, Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Medicine, Memphis, TN, USA.
Altha Stewart, Department of Psychiatry, University of Tennessee Health Sciences Center College of Medicine, Memphis, TN, USA.
Laura Harris, Department of Psychiatry, University of Tennessee Health Sciences Center College of Medicine, Memphis, TN, USA.
Esra Ozdenerol, Department of Earth Sciences, Spatial Analysis and Geographic Education Laboratory, University of Memphis, Memphis, TN, USA.
Fridtjof Thomas, Department of Preventive Medicine, University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Medicine, Memphis, TN, USA.
Karen C. Johnson, Department of Preventive Medicine, University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Medicine, Memphis, TN, USA.
Robert Davis, University of Tennessee Health Science Center-Oak Ridge National Laboratory Center for Biomedical Informatics, Oak Ridge, TN, USA.
Arash Shaban-Nejad, University of Tennessee Health Science Center-Oak Ridge National Laboratory Center for Biomedical Informatics, Oak Ridge, TN, USA.

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 . 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.

Publication Title

Disaster medicine and public health preparedness

Recommended Citation

Schwartz, D. L., Stewart, A., Harris, L., Ozdenerol, E., Thomas, F., Johnson, K. C., Davis, R., & Shaban-Nejad, A. (2022). 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. Disaster medicine and public health preparedness, 17, e326. https://doi.org/10.1017/dmp.2022.284