HHS Wants Help Updating Disease Tracking System

The Department of Health and Human Services wants to revamp the way public health agencies track diseases such as Ebola, HIV and Anthrax. 

Hospitals and labs are required to notify the government when patients arrive with one of these or almost 100 other diseases. But the system through which local, state and federal agencies currently share information with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about "notifiable" diseases is outdated -- and HHS wants techies from the private sector to help out. 

In its newest call for "Entrepreneurs-in-Residence" -- a 4-year-old program that invites technology professions to work on specific HHS projects for 13 months -- the department is recruiting a "software platforms architect" and a "data integration and management architect" to modernize the National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System.

The two recruits will be responsible for examining the data reporting standards, dreaming up better ways to expand the system and guiding the technology contractors building the system, according to the application. 

"Health informatics is no longer a niche market; complicated ways of exchanging health care data are being replaced by the same web standards and technologies other industries use," an HHS blog post said. "Openness is the new default and we need you to help show us the way."

(Image via Gil C/Shutterstock.com)