Arizona has stepped up its participation in a national tool called BioSense. It helps health officials do surveillance on a variety of health conditions.

Basically, when a patient visits an emergency room or is admitted to the hospital, the information from the hospital’s medical record is automatically sent to the program, which helps officials in different states identify trends.

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention rolled it out several years ago, and Arizona started taking part two years ago.

Jessica Rigler, chief for the Bureau of Epidemiology and Disease Control at the Arizona Department of Health Services, talked about how Arizona hospitals are involved in the program.