HIGHLIGHTS
- The nation needs to be prepared to prevent global outbreaks.
- Abt is helping CDC prepare effective responses.
- Data collected will be used to provide targeted interventions across federal, state, and local levels.
PROJECT
CDC / CFA Demographic Social Comorbidities Table (DSCT)
The Challenge
The nation’s ability to identify and respond to outbreaks relies on access to high-quality and timely data for disease surveillance and response at state and local levels.
The Approach
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Center for Forecasting and Outbreak Analytics (CFA) contracted Abt and its partner, HealthVerity, to provide data that federal, state, territory, and local governments and other organizations can use to target interventions and countermeasures in the event of a public health emergency. The tool created in this contract aids planners in estimating resource needs, evaluating intervention coverage, identifying areas for intervention, and providing efficient outreach. Teams created and disseminated user-friendly data products that capture key information by sourcing, integrating, analyzing, and packaging different datasets. Data scientists and epidemiologists combined large data sets from a variety of industry and government sources with massive computing power, automation, analytics, and artificial intelligence.
Abt’s team integrated data across sectors from publicly available sources, such as the U.S. Census Bureau, the Behavioral Health Risk Factor Surveillance System, and more. Medical claims data, social media data, data from service providers (healthcare providers, schools, universities, nursing homes, and correctional facilities), and market research were used to inform plans and responses, focused on local communities.
The Results
The tool developed through this project integrates geographic, demographic, and related datasets to estimate how many people meet selected criteria. By presenting this information in a clear, user-friendly web format, the tool highlights patterns of risk and enables public health agencies to target interventions more effectively.