On Sept. 1, the California Department of Public Health and California Department of Technology announced that OptumInsight, Inc. has been selected to develop the state’s new COVID-19 data reporting system.
The system will collect and report COVID-19 cases, which exceed 700,000 including 13,000 deaths, supplementing California’s current disease registry system known as CalREDIE, which has been used to track all infectious diseases and proved to be inadequate to deal with the COVID numbers.
CDPH has signed a renewable, six-month $15.3 million contract with OptumInsight to develop the data tool using federal funding. The first phase of the new system is to be up and running in October.
“Throughout this pandemic, our public health decisions are guided by science and data and we recognize the need for innovative and modern tools to get in front of COVID-19,” said Sandra Shewry, CDPH acting director. “We are taking meaningful action to update how we collect, analyze and report COVID-19 data, which is central to our ongoing statewide response and the actions local public health directors take every day to protect the health and wellbeing of Californians.”
The new standalone COVID-19 data reporting system, which was procured competitively, is a software solution built to manage the large volume of data currently tracked as a result of the pandemic. It is designed to help improve the efficiency of the system that receives data from laboratories and local public health departments and prepares data for reporting and analysis.
“This tool will result in measurable progress to the data quality, management and overall efficiency of reporting California’s COVID-19 lab results,” said California Chief Information Officer and CDT Director Amy Tong. “This system will reduce labor-intensive collection processes and minimize delays in reporting data so that public health experts across the state have swift access to the tools and data they need to prevent COVID-19 transmission and respond to new cases and outbreaks.”
OptumInsight, Inc. is a global company that provides data, software and services to health care companies and government agencies.
“Optum is honored to support the State of California’s efforts to collect and report COVID-19 data and help stem the spread of the virus,” said Robert Musslewhite, CEO of OptumInsight, the health care technology business of Optum.