The Louisiana Public Health Institute (LPHI) shows how MENDS can work in practice. As a MENDS partner, LPHI not only supports data contributions, but also convenes local and state public health data users to apply those data to real questions.
Clinical data are contributed by REACHnet partner health systems, with LPHI serving as the data coordinator and engineering partner. These data are then leveraged by MENDS for chronic disease surveillance.
LPHI convenes local and state public health agencies in Louisiana and Texas as part of its MENDS data user group. Through regular working sessions, partners identify priority conditions, surface analytic questions, and review findings together. Current areas of focus include asthma, hypertension and heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, and sickle cell disease. These data are intended to help partners better understand disease burden, support local program planning, and supplement existing surveillance systems with more timely and locally relevant estimates. Discussions are centered on how to query clinical data to generate meaningful public health measures, for example, how to define populations, apply inclusion and exclusion criteria, and interpret results for surveillance use.
Questions raised through this group move forward through a shared MENDS query process.
- LPHI convenes partners and defines priorities
- NACDD leads query development, deployment, and technical refinement
- LPHI coordinates review and approval of results by participating health systems
This approach allows analytic work to move from question to results, with LPHI facilitating and participating health systems retaining authority over data use and release. The result is data that are not just produced but structured to support public health surveillance and action.
Explore how MENDS supports EHR-based chronic disease surveillance:
https://chronicdisease.org/cphl/technical-assistance-hub/data-modernization/mends/