Electronic Case Reporting: Burden Reduction for Healthcare

Prior to electronic case reporting (eCR), healthcare providers could only send data to public health through slow, manual processes, including faxes and web forms. Healthcare staff spent countless hours manually completing and sending case reporting forms to public health departments and the data were often incomplete. Additionally, conditions were often under-reported by healthcare. Public health agencies then reviewed these manual reports and manually entered them into their own systems. eCR helps healthcare facilities and public health agencies reduce their time-cost burden and provides timely and accurate public health responses to emerging health threats.

eCR is the automated, real-time exchange of case report information between electronic health records (EHRs) and public health agencies (PHAs). eCR runs behind the scenes to automatically capture and report required information from health records, resulting in more complete data flowing to public health. eCR data contain information on demographics, clinical outcomes, risk factors, and more, allowing agencies to identify cases, make connections between them and identify potential outbreaks.

In early 2020, fewer than 200 healthcare facilities in the United States could use eCR to relay critical case data to public health agencies. By September 2024, CDC and its public health partners had expanded eCR, resulting in more than 41,700 healthcare facilities delivering automated, real-time case reports to 73 state, tribal, local, and territorial PHAs.

eCR can help close health equity gaps by prioritizing healthcare facilities treating under-served populations, including rural populations, tribal communities, and front-line workers. PHAs use eCR for reportable conditions, including foodborne illnesses like salmonellosis and non-infectious conditions like Parkinson’s disease. As of October 2024, there are 226 conditions that can be reported with eCR, with the potential for additional conditions in the future.

eCR is response ready. For example, on June 9, 2022, the eCR team began working with the electronic health record industry to support the mpox outbreak. In just four days, many healthcare facilities were able to send mpox patient case reports electronically to state and local public health agencies.  As eCR adoption increases, more facilities will be able to discontinue manual reporting, allowing providers to spend more time with patients.