The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention is launching a new effort aimed at using data to better recognize and understand public health threats and their impact on long-term care facilities.
CDC will use de-identified long-term care resident data provided by PointClickCare to analyze disease patterns, progression and health outcomes among the group. The initiative will also work to evaluate clinical guidelines uptake, treatments and interventions used to help residents.
“Through this collaboration, CDC will have access to scarcely available data sets that, through analysis, can uncover unique insights into the health of older adults and those who are at greater risk of severe outcomes from COVID-19,” Jason Menges, vice president of national accounts for PointClickCare said in a statement Tuesday.
The American Health Care Association announced a similar partnership with Exponent Inc. and MatrixCare last week to track COVID-19 and future public health threats facing nursing homes, called the Long Term Care Data Cooperative.
The effort will be funded by the National Institute on Aging and will use nursing home residents’ electronic medical records and associated data to create comprehensive resident electronic health records to help providers monitor their needs and outcomes.
The system will also be used to support public health reporting and allow researchers to generate real-world evidence on different treatments and care practices to treat residents, AHCA said.
“While we know more about COVID than a year ago, there is still so much more we need to learn,” Mark Parkinson, president and CEO of AHCA, said in a statement. “This innovative system will help improve and save lives now and in the future.”
