An Evaluation of Electronic Laboratory Data Quality and a Health Information Exchange

Electronic laboratory reporting (ELR) was demonstrated just over a decade ago to be an effective method to improve the timeliness of reporting as well as the number of reports submitted to public health agencies. The quality of data (inc. completeness) in information systems across all industries and organizations is often poor, and anecdotal reports in the surveillance literature suggest that ELR may not improve the completeness of the data in the submitted reports.

Objective 

To examine the completeness of data submitted from clinical information systems to public health agencies as notifiable disease reports.