Uber Operations - key to Florida Department of Health Varicella PHIN Certification

March 30, 2010 - PRLog -- Tallahassee - John Parker recently led the Florida Department of Health (FDOH) to become Public Health Information Network (PHIN) Certified for the Notification/Send processes for the Nationally Notifiable Disease – Varicella. Parker has been a Data Integration Developer with Über Operations, an IT consulting firm based in Tallahassee, for the past three years. The Varicella certification is the first of several certifications for the FDOH that Parker and the Über Operations team will be a part of this year.

Varicella, commonly known as Chickenpox, became reportable in Florida in November of 2006. It is one of more than seventy conditions that are considered nationally notifiable by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The purpose of the PHIN Varicella certification is to standardize the notification and transmission of periodic disease reporting to the CDC.

To pass the certification, applicants are required to meet three functionality requirements:image

  1. The ability to compose functional Varicella case notification messages
  2. The ability to securely send the messages to the CDC
  3. Application(s) used must be secure and available

Achieving these requirements involves acquiring the data from the FDOH Merlin surveillance system which is stored in a SQL database. A stored procedure queries the data and converts it into an XML formatted file. The XML data is then translated via the Cloverleaf Integration Broker tool into a standardized HL7 format (version 2.5) that is sent via PHINMS to the CDC for their consumption.

Parker and the Über Operations team have plans to pursue further PHIN certifications to ensure that FDOH remains a leader in healthcare information exchange.

About PHIN
The CDC Public Health Information Network (PHIN) is a national initiative to improve the capacity of public health to use and exchange information electronically by promoting the use of standards and defining functional and technical requirements. PHIN strives to improve public health by enhancing research and practice through best practices related to efficient, effective, and interoperable public health information systems.

About Über Operations
Founded in 2004, Über Operations is a leading provider of health care IT services due in part to their exclusive IT resources, their creativity, and hard work. Their goal is to provide the highest quality in software solutions and to find and work with the best IT professionals in the industry. Über Operations provides the integration services for several large private and public organizations, such as: the Florida Dept of Health, Texas Dept of State Health Services, and the University of Washington. Über Operations team members are considered experts in open source technology such as PHINMS, NHIN CONNECT, and Mirth to name a few. For more information on Über Operations please visit www.ÜberOps.com.

Contact:
Eduardo Gonzalez Loumiet, MBA, PMP
Managing Director
Über Operations, LLC
(850) 766-5338
eddie@ÜberOps.com

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Founded in 2004, Über Operations is a leading provider of health care IT services due in part to their exclusive IT resources, their creativity, and hard work. Their goal is to provide the highest quality in software solutions and to find and work with the best IT professionals in the industry. Über Operations provides the integration services for several large private and public organizations, such as: the Florida Dept of Health, Texas Dept of State Health Services, and the University of Washington. Über Operations team members are considered experts in open source technology such as PHINMS, NHIN CONNECT, and Mirth to name a few. For more information on Über Operations please visit www.ÜberOps.com.