NEDSS Base System (NBS) & Surveillance

NBS Updates

In our ongoing efforts to improve data security and privacy, changes to access in NBS for healthcare providers and local health department went into effect on February 17, 2025. Additional information about this decision can be found here.

Morbidity Reports
Hospital/healthcare providers will no longer be able to view or edit their submissions or submissions of users at their facilities. For MPOX and STIs, LHD users will only be able to create morbidity reports and will not be able to view or edit the reports after submission.

Reports
Hospital/healthcare providers will no longer be able to run reports to extract data from NBS.

LTBI
Hospital/healthcare providers will now submit LTBI as a morbidity report instead of an investigation.

The LTBI workflow in NBS will remain similar for PHNs, but IDOH will now notify PHNs to review the submitted morbidity reports and open an investigation. PHNs will be responsible for completing all required investigation fields, attaching the CXR, and submitting the notification to IDOH. Once medication is received, PHNs will complete the overall therapy completion information, confirm the case status, and set the investigation status to closed.

1. Summary of NBS Changes for Healthcare Reporters
2. LTBI NBS Workflow
3. LTBI Reporting for IPs in NBS Quick Guide

For questions, please contact NBS@health.IN.gov.

As of November 2024, NBS users at local health departments are able to utilize the Query Registry feature in NBS. This feature allows users to search the Children and Hoosier Immunization Registry Program (CHIRP) application directly from NBS and import relevant vaccine records to associate to investigations. In addition, NBS users at local health departments can now edit vaccine records after they have been submitted. Please review this Fact Sheet for complete instructions on how to use this feature.

Most investigations in NBS now contain detailed race variables, which facilitate the collection of more specific race information beyond the five standard race categories. Please review the Detailed Race Fact Sheet for more information.

Beginning in September 2023, a new variable, “Investigation Initiation Date”, was added to select condition investigations in NBS to support the measurement of the Infectious Disease Prevention and Control key performance indicator (KPI) for Health First Indiana. This variable continued to be implemented across additional conditions through mid-2024 and is now present on most condition investigations. The variable location will vary slightly depending on the condition; however, you can find it at the beginning of the investigation (new NBS investigation format) or at the end of the investigation (old NBS investigation format). Please review the linked screenshots for example locations. You can find more detailed information regarding the change, including condition exceptions, in this Fact Sheet.

For questions, please contact NBS@health.IN.gov.

NBS/Surveillance Team

The NBS Surveillance team serves within the Infectious Disease & Epidemiology Prevention Division (IDEPD) at the Indiana Department of Health. The team’s purpose is to minimize morbidity and mortality associated with reportable communicable diseases among Indiana residents by conducting a broad and complex range of investigative and analytical epidemiologic activities; this includes but is not limited to coordinating infectious disease reporting, providing infectious disease surveillance support to internal subject matter experts & external partners, conduct maintenance and support of the NBS surveillance system, coordinate electronic case reporting (eCR) activities, and coordinate COVID-19 surveillance.

Contact Information

Indiana Department of Health 
2 N. Meridian St. 
Indianapolis, IN 46204