SD Department of Health going paperless in hopes to increase efficiency

The South Dakota Department of Health is transitioning to a paperless, more online-friendly system in the health inspection process.

Health inspectors will now complete their forms on tablets, resulting in what officials hope will be a more efficient process.

John Osburn, assistant administrator for the Department of Health, said this change has been talked about for years. He said tablets will provide more readily-available information to the public.

“We did want it more accessible to the public,” Osburn said. “And so that was a factor, but again there’s other issues. We wanted to gather the data in a more timely fashion, and we’ll be able to do more with that data that we bring in.”

Osburn said the new database will likely be up sometime this summer.

Dustin Larsen has been the regional DOH adviser for southeastern South Dakota since 2006. He said he has weekly meetings to work out the new system’s kinks.

“I think it’s a needed step and it’ll help move us forward into being a little more efficient, I think, with our inspections and working with our inspectors in the field,” Larsen said.

Once the new system is in place, whole inspection reports will be available online, rather than just scores.

“Going forward they’ll be able to actually see what violations were marked on the inspection form,” Osburn said.

Osburn and Larsen said scores are consistent statewide, and fall within the ‘good’ to ‘very good’ range.

“We’ve had a good, long-standing relationship with the majority of the restaurants. Many of them have been here for many, many years,” Larsen said. “And I think we’ve helped educate them and they work with us very well.”

Food establishments have to be inspected at least twice a year, usually about every six months. Osburn said seasonal businesses are still inspected twice, but with less time between inspections.

Scores below an 80 and/or several critical items result in a 60-day warning. If the required corrections aren’t made, the DOH may take legal action.

“There are some times where we do have to take them to administrative hearing, where they get to make their case and we make our case and then a judge arbitrates that —  who has to make what corrective changes, if any,” Osburn said.

Osburn said more often than not, hearings don’t result in shutting a business down.

“It’s rare,” Osburn said. “We try to emphasize education, that’s our goal. We’re not out there trying to punish people for serving the public food.”

Osburn and Larsen said the most common violations involve proper glove and hand washing.

“Those are ones that our office definitely takes close look at,” Larsen said. “Proper hand washing especially.”

First-year Austin Herbst, a health sciences major, said he goes out to eat about one to two times a week in Vermillion.

He guessed that for the most part, Vermillion establishments get “pretty good” scores.

He probably won’t look up restaurants’ scores online, he said.

“I’m more of a word of mouth kind of guy,” Herbst said. “If I hear it’s good I go and try it for myself. If I try it once and I don’t like it, I don’t go back.”

Osburn said once the information becomes more commonly known, he believes the public will take advantage of it.

Larsen said he hopes those who are interested in seeing businesses’ scores not only utilize the new system, but will also make sure to correctly interpret the information.

“We just want to make sure that they are able to interpret it correctly and understand what the scores actually do mean,” Larsen said. “And when a violation is written, what it actually is meaning.”