Electronic Lab Reporting: OnBoarding Process
What is Electronic Laboratory Reporting (ELR)?
Electronic Laboratory Reporting (ELR) is the electronic transmission of laboratory reports from laboratories to public health agencies that identify reportable conditions. ELR has many benefits, including improved timeliness, reduction of manual data entry errors, and reports that are more complete. ELR has been promoted as a public health priority for the past several years, and CMS Promoting Interoperability requirement for public health serves as a catalyst to accelerate its adoption.
Reporting Communicable Diseases to the Arkansas Department of Health
The “Rules and Regulations Pertaining to Communicable Disease Control” adopted by the Arkansas State Board of Health in 1977 pursuant to the authority conferred by Act 96 of 1913 (Arkansas Statutes, 1947, Section 82-110) Section III states, “The responsibility for reporting certain communicable diseases is the duty of every physician, practitioner, nurse, superintendent or manager of a dispensary, hospital, clinic, nursing or extended care home or laboratory personnel examining human specimens resulting in the diagnosis of notifiable disease or any person in attendance on a case of any disease or conditions declared notifiable.” The document, “Instructions for Reporting Communicable Diseases to the Arkansas Department of Health,” contains a complete list of the diseases and conditions that are reportable to the ADH.
Submitting Data or Public Health Meaningful Use
The Arkansas Department of Health currently accepts electronic submissions of Health Level Seven (HL7) Clinical Document Architecture (CDA) cancer data messages from Eligible Hospitals, Critical Access Hospitals and Eligible Professionals interested in submitting data for Promoting Interoperability requirements through the OnBoarding Process.
Reporting of lab data is one way in which facilities and providers can meet Promoting Interoperability requirements.
Register for Promoting Interoperability using the Arkansas Reporting and Communication System.
Laboratories Not Participating in Meaningful Use
If your laboratory is not eligible for Promoting Interoperability, ADH is still interested in supporting your implementation of ELR. For more information, contact ADH.ELR.MU@arkansas.gov.
Note: Eligible hospitals must continue traditional reporting practices (i.e. fax, phone, or mail) during implementation of electronic reporting until they complete all on-boarding and quality assurance processes.
Additional Resources
The NEDSS/NBS application also uses LOINC and SNOMED as vocabulary standards.
Due to a large number of requests, allow a minimum of three weeks to process your HL7 message.
Contact Information
ELR Coordinator
ADH.ELR@arkansas.gov
