The Health Department conducts syndromic surveillance using visit data from several emergency rooms and walk-in clinics in the state. Syndromic surveillance groups this data into various categories, or syndromes, based upon common key words such as unconscious, drug use, opioid, heroin, acute, or overdose. These syndromes are then monitored for trends and unusual activity.

Data 2016 and earlier came from the Early Aberration Reporting System (EARS); 2017 and later is from the Electronic Surveillance System for the Early Notification of Community-based Epidemics (ESSENCE).