Federal health officials met with Clark County hospital leaders Wednesday about joining the likes of University Medical Center and 39 other hospitals nationwide in a program designed to improve the nation's ability to conduct real-time surveillance of certain medical outbreaks such as SARS or influenza.

The program, known as BioSense, is already under way at UMC, said Lynn Steele, director of emergency preparedness and response for the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. UMC's participation means when patients go to the hospital with a problem, their medical information -- minus a name or other identifiable detail -- is automatically available to the CDC, the state's Department of Health and Human Services and the Southern Nevada Health District.

This information is used to track whether there may be an outbreak, Steele said.

Should a physician or health official discover a pattern or cluster of diseases, then the necessary action can be taken at the federal, state and local level to either prepare for an outbreak or control it, she said. This is crucial in the event of a natural or manmade disaster or crisis.

Brian Labus, senior epidemiologist at Southern Nevada Health District, said the BioSense program is another tool that can be used to detect and monitor disease or other public health events, especially in an area that is continuously growing, somewhat transient and a tourist attraction.

"This is simply just another way we can find out what's going in the community as it relates to public health,'' he said.

Steele said Las Vegas is one of about 10 communities in the country where the CDC is looking to install BioSense citywide in upcoming months.

By 2009, the federal government hopes to have the system installed in 3,500 of the 5,700 of hospitals nationwide.

Sometime after that, the hope is to have all hospitals online, as well as some private health care providers.

To date, there are about 740 hospitals in nearly 30 cities that have agreed to implement the program in some form.

Steele said she has met with most CEOs of Clark County hospitals and they seem to be on board with getting connected sooner.

"Las Vegas is important because it is a major metropolitan area with a number of hospitals citywide,'' Steele said.

Labus, who is in charge of tracking diseases throughout Clark County, said it is crucial that all the hospitals be on the same page, especially during a disaster. If they're not, then some might not get the help that they need.

Steele said the BioSense system is available via a secure Web site that is accessible only to authorized health officials.