Overview

Welcome to the Tuberculosis Patient Management Applications Assessment Guide

This assessment guide was designed to assist your organization in planning the selection, acquisition, and rollout of Tuberculosis (TB) Patient Management (PM) software applications in the field. This assessment guide does not address any specific vendor product or implementation; rather, it is provided to assist you in making a decision. For your convenience, this assessment guide has been made available on the web, ensuring that the latest version is available. This assessment guide is somewhat technical in nature and is meant to broaden the user's knowledge on how to acquire software applications. A glossary is provided to help users with technical terms and acronyms referenced throughout this guide.

This assessment guide is one of several products developed by Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) under a contract with the CDC Division of TB Elimination (DTBE) to identify solutions for local TB PM information system needs. The DTBE has developed and supported several software packages over the last 15 years. Rapid changes in the information system world, coupled with the inability of CDC-developed software to meet the information system needs of all state reporting areas and their local programs, created a need that was not achievable. As a result, local and state TB programs have been unable to benefit from the advances in information system development. During the last 3 years, several applications have been developed by local and state programs, as well as private vendors. With this level of development occurring among TB control programs, DTBE decided against building software and to support a project to provide end users with tools to evaluate existing applications against core TB PM requirements.

This interactive guide has been designed with non-information technology (IT) persons in mind; it is our hope that you find it to be straightforward and easy-to-use. This guide provides tools and references to support the identification and selection of software applications that will meet your local practice model. The guide is organized into sections, which have been hyperlinked. For users just starting the evaluation process, we recommend starting at the beginning and working your way through all sections. For the advanced user, we recommend you assess your starting point by reviewing the brief section descriptions shown in the following table.

Section Description

How to Get Started Provides a set of steps for an organization that is interested in selecting a tuberculosis patient management software application.

Requirements Definition Includes a core set TB PM requirement as identified by the National TB Controllers Association. Users have the ability to add, change, or delete requirements based on local/state preferences.

Business Models Addresses several types of models related to acquisition and maintenance of an application.

Support Addresses system support needs such as ongoing maintenance, sustainability, and application training.

Data Migration Provides steps regarding migrating existing Report of Verified Case of TB (RVCT) data from the Tuberculosis Information Management System (TIMS) to new applications.

Local Enhancements and Customization Presents steps to ensure that your selected application will allow for local enhancements and customizations as well as suggestions on how to negotiate the best agreement for enhancements from a vendor.

Costs Offers information related to the total cost of ownership for a new software application.

Funding Includes information about less traditional funding sources and highlights the opportunities that exist for funding IT in public health.

PHIN Compatibility Addresses an important CDC requirement, Public Health Information Network (PHIN) compatibility. Criteria are provided to enable the end user to determine if the application meets PHIN standards, including RVCT Reporting, PHIN Messaging Services (PHIN-MS) and PHIN Vocabulary Services (PHIN-VS).

Decision Model Tool Developed for this project and runs in Microsoft Excel. This tool may be downloaded free-of-charge (Microsoft Excel is required) and is easily customized to score your own applications.

Glossary Provides definitions of relevant terms and acronyms found in this guide.

Results Contains the results of the assessment of nominated TB PM software applications.

Assessment guide sections and descriptions.

Comments and feedback are welcome. Please forward your comments and feedback to the: NTCA.