Other MCH data capacity efforts include the following:

Pregnancy Risk Assessment Surveillance Monitoring System (PRAMS): 

Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (CNMI PRAMS) will be a joint research project between the Commonwealth Healthcare Corporation (CHCC) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The project involves the development and completion of a protocol and implementation of a population-based surveillance system designed to identify maternal attitudes and experiences before, during and after pregnancy. Research indicates that maternal behaviors during pregnancy impact infant birthweight, gestation and mortality rates. The CNMI PRAMS will strengthen capacity in the CNMI to produce high quality data not available from other sources relating to pregnancy and the first few months after birth and enable the monitoring of maternal and infant health indicators over time. The goal of CNMI PRAMS is to identify maternal risk behaviors that may affect both maternal and infant health. Findings from CNMI PRAMS will be used to enhance the understanding of maternal behaviors among the territory’s diverse population and their relationship with adverse pregnancy outcomes. The CNMI CHCC will use PRAMS surveillance data for program planning and evaluation and influencing public health practice and policy for maternal and child health programs.

CareVue Electronic Health Record (EHR) System: The CHCC, CNMI Health Department, have transitioned to the CareVue EHR system; there are plans to implement 3 public health reporting interphases which Medsphere’s CareVue EHR supports:

1. 170.315 (f)(1): Transmission to Immunization Registries
2. 170.315 (f)(2): Transmission to Public Health Agencies – Syndromic Surveillance
3. 170.315 (f)(3): Transmission to Public Health Agencies –Reportable Laboratory Tests and Values/Results

This upgrade is intended to improve the capturing and reporting of patient data and interoperability or linkages with other healthcare data systems. This project being spearheaded by the CHCC Health Information Technology (HIT) Department. The CHCC outpatient clinics serving women and children, emergency department, L&D, OB, Pediatrics, and other women and children serving hospital units will utilize this integrated health record system for capturing preventive, primary, and other patient care information.  

Family Planning Annual Report (FPAR) 2.0: The CNMI Family Planning program completed computer hardware upgrades for Family Planning providers at the CHCC Women’s Clinic, Rota Health Center, and Tinian Health Center. Additionally, through a partnership with the CHCC HIT, the program is working with CareVue to ensure that all FPAR 2.0 data elements required by the Office of Population Affairs are included in the development and deployment of the new CHCC EHR system.

Immunization System linkage to EHR- System Interoperability: Through a partnership with the HIT Department, the Immunization Program is working on upgrades to the CNMI Immunization Information System (IIS) called the WebIz, to enable linkages between the hospital and clinics EHR and the IIS. This upgrade will improve the capturing and reporting of vaccination data in the CNMI. 

National Electronic Disease Surveillance System (NEDSS) Base System (NBS)- The CNMI CHCC has implemented the NEDSS NBS for managing reportable disease data and the electronic transfer of the data to CDC. This project is led by the CHCC Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity (ELC) Program.

Electronic Vital Registration System (EVRS)- Through the CNMI Health & Vital Statistics Office (HVSO), the CNMI has implemented the first electronic vital registration system, enabling the CNMI to participate in the Social Security Administration’s Enumeration at Birth (EAB). The EAB allows parents to complete applications for Social Security numbers for their newborns as part of the CNMI birth registration process. The new EVRS will increase interoperability for system integration with other CHCC data systems, such as the newborn screening data system. Additionally, the new system will improve the CHCC capacity around morbidity and mortality surveillance as part of efforts for monitoring population health status within the CNMI.

Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) System linkage: Updates to the newborn hearing screening data system was completed in 2020; EHDI is currently in collaboration CHCC Heath and Vital Statistics for linking the EHDI systems with EVRS database.

CNMI MCH Data Sources