Views on increased federal access to state and local National Syndromic Surveillance Program data: a nominal group technique study with state and local epidemiologists

Table 3 State and local epidemiologists’ evaluation of policy opportunities for increased federal NSSP access, 2021

Identified Rule, Restriction, Guideline or Code of Conduct^a	Mean importance Likert score^b	Rank 1 (n)	Rank 2 (n)	Rank 3 (n)	Aggregate rank score^c
Involving state and local partners in data analysis	4.93	4	4	2	22
Create communication protocols between CDC and state or local governments	4.53	4	2	1	17
Make DUA applicable to all federal recipients of NSSP data	4.53	1	1	3	8
Restrict data access for specific purposes or events	3.73	1	2	1	8
Establish audit and documentation process for data access and analysis	4.33	0	3	1	7
Create standards for removing access	4.07	2	0	1	7
Restrict data access to specific users (as opposed to groups of users)	3.53	1	1	1	6
Establish restrictions on data publication	4.13	1	1	0	5
Allow optional participation in greater federal access	4.00	1	1	0	5
Include procedure for DUA renewal	4.07	0	0	2	2
Require training on code of conduct	3.67	0	0	2	2
Clarify breach responsibility	4.07	0	0	1	1

Themes were generated in response to the question: “What rules, restrictions, guidelines, or codes of conduct could be implemented in the NSSP DUA or CDC policies that might address a concern addressed by you or a fellow workgroup member?”
^aExample ideas for each theme can be found in the Supplemental materials
^bIn calculating the mean Likert scores, options were scored 1–5 with Very Important = 5, Important = 4, Moderately Important = 3, Slightly Important = 2, Not Important = 1
^cIn calculating the rank score, items ranked 1, 2, and 3 were assigned scores of 3, 2, and 1 respectively. The aggregate rank score is the sum of all respondents’ ranking scores

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