Notifiable diseases interoperable framework toward improving Iran public health surveillance system: Lessons learned from COVID‑19 pandemic

Direct transmission of notifiable disease information in a real‑time and reliable way to public health decision‑makers is imperative for early identification of epidemiological trends as well as proper response to potential pandemic like ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 crisis. Thus, this research aimed to develop of semantic‑sharing and collaborative‑modeling to meet the information exchange requirements of Iran’s notifiable diseases surveillance system.

First, the Iran’s Notifiable diseases Minimum Data Set (INMDS) was determined according to a literature review coupled with agreements of experts. Then the INMDS was mapped to international terminologies and classification systems, and the Health Level seven‑Clinical Document Architecture (HL7‑CDA) standard was leveraged to define the exchangeable and machine‑readable data formats.

A core dataset consisting of 15 classes and 96 data fields was defined. Data elements and response values were mapped to Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine‑Clinical Terms (SNOMED‑CT) reference terminology. Then HL7‑CDA standard for interoperable data exchange were defined.

The notifiable disease surveillance requires an integrative participation of multidisciplinary team. In this field, data interoperability is more essential due to the heterogeneous nature of health information systems. Developing of INMDS based on HL7‑CDA along with SNOMED‑CT codes offers an inclusive and interoperable dataset that can help make notifiable diseases data more comparable and reportable across studies and organizations. The proposed data model will be further modifications in the future according probable changes in Iran’s notifiable diseases list.