As a practitioner, you may be compelled to share case information for a variety of reasons. One of the most common is that you have discovered a potential outbreak of a serious condition in your area. Electronic Case Reporting (eCR) speeds up the process and makes it more efficient. Learn everything you need to know about eCR and how you can use it to your benefit.
What is Electronic Case Reporting?
Using an electronic system to automatically generate and transmit reports to public health agencies is known as eCR. eCR lets you share reportable instances with healthcare organizations and local and national public health agencies in real-time.
With eCR, public health agencies are alerted to potential disease outbreaks and other reportable events faster, allowing them to mount a response and potentially contain the situation faster. For example, if you treat a patient who has an E-Coli infection, you can notify your local public health agency right away, and they can track down the source and notify the public before thousands of people get sick.
The Benefits of eCR
As a healthcare provider, you are required by law to report case reports for reportable conditions. eCR automates the process, generating and transmitting a report whenever you come across one of these conditions.
Your medical team does not have to interrupt normal workflows and patient care to create and transmit a report manually. eCR also gives you an electronic paper trail so you can prove you are in compliance with all legal reporting requirements. The automated nature of the system makes it easier to file reports with multiple agencies if you need to.
Once you have discovered a reportable condition, you can easily coordinate with your local public health agency to compare data and notify the public. By taking swift action, you can arm the community with information to keep them safe.
How eCR Works
Any healthcare provider and public health agency interested in participating in eCR needs to use the same platform to automate reporting. The system coordinates with common electronic health records (EHR) software, looking for reportable conditions and automatically generating a report once it comes across a patient record with these keywords.
To work effectively, you need to be located in a jurisdiction that is equipped to receive electronic case reports. As of 2024, the system is active in 36,700 facilities in all 50 states.
eCR Requirements
Before you can implement eCR in your practice, you need to make sure you have met some basic requirements:
- Your EHR platform is certified for electronic case reporting
- Your EHR provider and IT staff are familiar with the updated Electronic Reporting and Surveillance Distribution and related reportable conditions trigger codes
- Your EHR is capable of creating a standard electronic initial case report
- Your EHR can receive a reportability response for each initial case report you submit.
Once you know you meet the requirements, you can work with your local public health agency to register your intent for participating in eCR. You can also coordinate with your EHR provider to plan for its implementation. You will be required to test your system before going live and validating your data after you’ve activated your system.
How eCR Differs from ELR
You may be familiar with electronic lab reporting, which is when a system automatically generates and shares lab information for reportable conditions. For example, if you live in an area known for agriculture and a patient tests positive for chemical exposure and toxicity, the lab would generate and send a report to your local health agency.
However, not all patients are tested in a lab, so ELR may not capture every reportable condition. Additionally, electronic case reports are often more detailed. In your eCR, you can include variables, such as recent travel history, into a report. If you and the lab both submit a report on a patient testing positive for chemical exposure, the public health agency can take recent travel and other potential factors into account.
Get Started With eCR
If you’re not already equipped for eCR, participating in the program can keep you legally compliant while saving your staff time. Each time you encounter a reportable event, your eCR system will notify the proper public health agencies, and you can continue treating patients without worrying about manually generating and submitting the report.
You and your healthcare team can provide valuable information to the community and your local public health agency for a well-timed response.
