The PHIELD PROJECT (Public Health Integration & Exchange of Lab Data), an open source project is focused on a cost effective solution to delivering laboratory data of public health significance to the appropriate legal jurisdictions. The PHIELD project implemented a first generation solution by developing an end-to-end model comprised of Open Source software and documentation for filtering and reporting from a local LIS to the National Electronic Disease Surveillance System (NEDSS) implementation in Nebraska utilizing the Public Health Information Network (PHIN) architected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The Phield System is the culmination of several years of collaborative work between the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services System, the Nebraska Public Health Lab and the University of Nebraska Medical Center. It has been released under the Academic Free Open Source License in the hope that it will continue to improve with the assistance of the larger Public Health community and, in turn, give back in terms of usefulness and robustness.