“Blueprint Version 2.0”

In Brief Rapid changes to the United States public health system challenge the current strategic approach to surveillance. During 2011, the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists convened national experts to reassess public health surveillance in the United States and update surveillance strategies that were published in a 1996 report and endorsed by the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists. Although surveillance goals, historical influences, and most methods have not changed, surveillance is being transformed by 3 influences: public health information and preparedness as national security issues; new information technologies; and health care reform. Each offers opportunities for surveillance, but each also presents challenges that public health epidemiologists can best meet by rigorously applying surveillance evaluation concepts, engaging in national standardization activities driven by electronic technologies and health care reform, and ensuring an adequately trained epidemiology workforce. This article discusses the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists' Blueprint Version 2.0 for updating public health surveillance for the 21st century. It also reviews surveillance goals, history, methods, and practice at different levels of government, describes current influences affecting surveillance, and updates strategies for surveillance.