All positive laboratory tests of reportable conditions on persons residing in New York State (NYS) are mandated to be sent to the NYS Department of Health (NYSDOH) via ECLRS. NYS, excluding New York City (NYC), receives over 100,000 ECLRS messages on general communicable diseases (CD) and hepatitis (HEP), not including Lyme disease and Influenza, annually. Although ECLRS is integrated with CDESS, the local health departments (LHD) need to review each lab report for proper initiation of a case investigation. Once the investigation is created, the LHD may need supportive evidence to create a reportable case or may dismiss it if evidence does not support the case definition.
Our goal is to follow all ECLRS records from official retrieval by the LHD through CDESS case creation, to ensure all cases are reported and are done so in a timely manner. Cases for diseases that are nationally notifiable are sent to CDC the following week for publication in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Timely reporting to CDC allows for more accurate description of disease occurrence, which is essential for public health planning and response.
Objective
Ensure all reportable communicable disease data coming through the Electronic Clinical Laboratory Reporting System (ECLRS) is reported to the Communicable Disease Electronic Surveillance System (CDESS) in a timely and complete manner.