Providers are required to report certain diseases to DHW for tracking purposes, determining disease impact, monitoring trends in disease, and guiding prevention strategies.
Tracking disease trends in Idaho involves the routine collection, analysis, and dissemination of health data provided by doctors, laboratories, and other health professionals about people with certain diseases. Reporting of these diseases is mandated as outlined in Idaho Reportable Disease Rules.
Healthcare providers, Idaho’s seven Public Health Districts, DHW’s Division of Public Health, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) work together to protect the public’s health in Idaho.
Healthcare providers diagnose and treat illness. Certain diseases (for example, whooping cough) must be reported to public health if a healthcare provider suspects or diagnoses that disease in a patient. As one of their many responsibilities, Idaho’s public health districts will investigate disease reports to identify sources of illness and take measures to prevent the spread of that illness to others.
The Division of Public Health provides a wide range of services, including providing support for the public health districts as they investigate cases of disease, coordinating statewide outbreak investigations, providing specialized public health laboratory testing, supplying vaccines for children, and regulating food safety.
The Idaho HAN system is an automated system designed to rapidly deliver time-critical, health-related information to designated health partners.