Easing on Down the Road: Progress Toward Electronic Case Reporting of STIs

Background:  The WA STD Surveillance Network Part B (SSuNB) is a CDC-funded demonstration project that aims to promote electronic case reporting (ECR) of STIs to public health departments.  The goals of the WA DOH SSuN Part B project are: 1) reduce current reporting time for STIs 2) reduce the case reporting workload for STIs in clinics and at local health jurisdictions; and 3) increase the completeness of STI case reports.  

Methods:  The WA SSuNB project includes 4 components designed to support ECR, of which 3 are most active: 1) Information exchange with a clinical care provider using an Electronic Health Record (EHR): We partnered with a multi-clinic family planning organization using a certified EHR (NextGen) willing to send ECRs as Continuity of Care documents (CCDs). 2) Secure electronic transfer of ECRs to the state: DOH is encouraging partners to use the statewide Health Information Exchange (HIE, OneHealthPort). 3) DOH readiness to receive ECRs: Data in ECRs must be parsed, validated and incorporated into the new state surveillance system (WA Disease Reporting System, WDRS).

Results:  1) The information in an initial set of CCDs was compared with STD case reports.  Challenges identified included the inability of existing EHR functionality to extract and submit all relevant clinical data. 2) Our clinical partner is joining OneHealthPort. 3) Rhapsody is being used to parse/validate ECRs and deliver the data to WDRS.  SSuNB project staff are key members of the WDRS implementation; the methods established for electronic laboratory reporting (ELR) to WDRS will be leveraged for ECR.

Conclusions:  Programs planning ECR need to consider multiple issues.  Despite use of a certified EHR system, extraction and submission of relevant data can be challenging. Consumption of CCDs requires new tools and skillsets. Concurrent work implementing an entirely new surveillance system into new technology promises efficiency in development of ECR.