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BACKGROUND: In 2014, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MDPH) Bureau of Infectious Disease (BID) Office of Integrated Surveillance and Informatics (ISIS), in collaboration with the MDPH Bureau of Environmental Health Food Protection Program (FPP), created a new foodborne illness (FBI) complaint module in the Massachusetts Virtual Epidemiologic Network (MAVEN), the state’s integrated, web-based disease surveillance and case management system for infectious diseases. The goals of the new module were to integrate an existing, legacy Microsoft Access database used by FPP and BID into MAVEN to streamline the reporting of complaints, improve communication between state agencies, and promote collaboration with local public health partners. To achieve these goals, the module needed to serve three purposes: 1) act as a repository for consumer complaints regarding potential sources of foodborne illness; 2) link confirmed cases of disease to corresponding environmental inspections and outcomes, and; 3) house meeting minutes of the Working Group on Foodborne Illness Control (WGFIC), a collaboration of epidemiology, environmental, local boards of health (LBOH), and laboratory staff working to investigate foodborne outbreaks.
METHODS: The FBI module consists of four question packages of administrative data, complainant information, food history, and WGFIC meeting minutes. The module allows tracking by facility and retail type for monthly and annual reports. Consumer complaints are entered by the FPP, BID, and LBOH. Complaints are reviewed by FPP staff to determine which may require further investigation by the WGFIC. Workflows were created to allow for efficient notification to FPP of new complaints and tracking of events being monitored by WGFIC. Reports were created to quickly aggregate complaint data entered into the FBI module, as well as to generate printable WGFIC meeting minutes. An online training was created for BID epidemiologists, FPP inspectors, and LBOH followed by in-person trainings by ISIS.
RESULTS: In 2014, 38 multiple and 347 single foodborne complaints were entered into MAVEN by LBOH, BID, and FPP staff.
CONCLUSIONS: The FBI module was successfully implemented allowing for more efficient tracking of FBI complaints and linking laboratory-confirmed cases to corresponding complaints., Training for epidemiologists, laboratorians, inspectors, and LBOH partners increased knowledge and communication around tracking and managing foodborne complaints. The module allows an electronic linkage of confirmed foodborne illness cases from the MAVEN surveillance module to a FBI complaint.