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Defense Medical Surveillance System

The Armed Forces Health Surveillance Branch (AFHSB) operates the Defense Medical Surveillance System (DMSS), a continuously expanding relational database that documents military and medical experiences of service members throughout their careers. As the central repository of medical surveillance data for the U.S. Armed Forces, DMSS contains up-to-date and historical data on diseases and medical events (e.g., hospitalizations, ambulatory visits, reportable medical events, HIV tests, and casualty data) and longitudinal data on personnel and deployments. AFHSB routinely publishes summaries of notifiable diseases, trends of illnesses of special surveillance interest and field reports describing outbreaks and case occurrences in the Medical Surveillance Monthly Report (MSMR), the principal vehicle for disseminating medical surveillance information of broad interest. Through DMSS, The AFHSB provides the sole link between the DoD Serum Repository and other databases.

Online Data

Selected Data Tables Integrated within the DMSS*

Table  Source Frequency Rows  Services  Time Period 
Person DMDC Monthly 10.3M All 1990-present 
Demog1  DMDC  Monthly  143M All 1990-present
MEPS MEPCOM  Monthly 31.6M All 1985-present
Deploy2  DMDC CTS Monthly 5.6M  All 1990-present
Inpatient3  DHSS Monthly  19.6M All 1990-present
Deploy_Forms4 Service feeds Daily 18M All 1994-present
Outpatient3 DHSS Daily  2.0B All 1996-present 
Immunizations DEERS  Daily 118M All  1980-present
Serum Testing Labs  Weekly 58.1M All 1985-present
Casualty5 AFMES Monthly 54.1K All  1885-present
Reportable Events6 DRSI Weekly 651K All 1994-present
Chem and Micro DHSS Daily 178M All 2010-present
PDTS POD Weekly 12.3M All 2014-present
TMDS  DHSS  Daily 11M All  2008-present

*Last Updated: October 2014

Notes:

  1. Demog contains all persons serving in the Active/Reserve/Guard components.
  2. Deployment rosters for major deployments beginning with Persian Gulf War.
  3. Medical encounters for active component, activated Reserves and National Guard, and other beneficiaries of the military healthcare system.
  4. Health assessment questionnaires administered before/after major deployments.
  5. Casualty data for active duty and activated Reserve/Guard component deaths.
  6. As outlined in the Armed Forces Reportable Events Guidelines.

Acronyms

  1. DMDC — Defense Manpower Data Center, CTS – Contingency Tracking System
  2. MEPCOM — Military Entrance Processing Command
  3. DHSS — Defense Health Services System
  4. DEERS — Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System
  5. AFMES — Armed Forces Medical Examinaer System
  6. DRSI — Disease Reporting System Internet
  7. PDTS — Pharmacy Data Transaction Service
  8. PEC — Pharmaco Economics Center
  9. TMDS — Theater Medical Data Store

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