Three states were selected by a competitive review process for this demonstration project. They included:
Michigan
- Improved communication with clinical laboratory partners by: establishing a public
health advisory group; on-site visits to local health departments, commercial and
clinical laboratories, laboratory professional groups and other stakeholders;
development of clinical laboratory fax network and routine fax communication to 125
laboratories on topics ranging from atypical pneumonia to SARS collated specimen
collection information.
- Electronic reporting of blood leads.
- Partnering with commercial laboratories with courier systems to improve transport,
and thus public health testing, for TB, meningococcus and rabies.
- Project lead: Dr. John Dyke, dykej@michigan.gov, 517.335.8103
Minnesota
- Developed a telephone survey for clinical laboratories, to assess capabilities and
identify the LRN Sentinel Laboratories, as well as build a robust contact database.
- Developed MLS Lab Alert system for electronic communication (e-mail and fax).
- Developed an annual challenge set of organisms, used for educational purposes and
to identify gaps in clinical laboratory practice for bioterrorism agents as well as
other agents of public health importance.
- Project lead: Paula Snippes, paula.snippes@health.state.mn.us, 651.201.5200
Nebraska
- Creation and dissemination of CD ROM and print materials to clinical labs (CDC
approved Level A bioterrorism training materials)
- Survey of hospitals on rapid communications needs that was submitted to Nebraska
Department of Health and Human Services-Regulation & Licensure Department.
Information used by NE in contracts that are establishing around-the-clock Internet
access and providing e-mail addresses to the state public health laboratory.
- Project lead: Tony Sambol, asambol@unmc.edu, 402.559.3032
An additional grantee was awarded funding from the CDC in 2001:
Foundation for Healthcare Quality/Washington
- Assessment of the need to improve testing for antimicrobial resistance through
surveys.
- Building of strong partnerships with laboratory professionals, public health officials,
public policy experts, epidemiologists, etc.
- Project lead: Jon Counts, jcounts@qualityhealth.org, 206.441.4441
- Website: http://www.qualityhealth.org