eCR Overview
Electronic case reporting (eCR) is the automated generation and secure transmission of case reports from health care organizations’ electronic health records (EHR) systems to public health agencies. eCR captures and reports required information digitally and will greatly reduce the burden of manual reporting.
eCR is reported through the Association of Public Health Laboratories’ APHL Informatics Messaging Services (AIMS) platform and distributed to the appropriate public health agencies. Technical onboarding is handled by a team from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and APHL.
Health care organizations (HCOs) must be using an EHR that is on the Certified Health IT Products List in order to participate in eCR.
South Carolina has not yet declared readiness to accept eCR. However, we encourage facilities to start the onboarding process. We will update this website once we have a date for declaration.
Steps to Onboarding eCR
Step 1: Initial Orientation
- Confirm that your EHR is on the Certified Health IT Products List.
- Communicate your intent to report eCR by completing the state registration form linked here and emailing it to [email protected].
- Familiarize yourself with the materials for health care providers on the APHL eCR website.
Step 2: Technical Onboarding
- Health care organizations using EHRs that currently support the generation of electronic case records will be referred to the CDC/APHL team for technical onboarding.
- HCOs will have to establish a connection to the AIMS platform during this step.
Step 3: Go Live and Validate Data Quality
- Once onboarding is complete with CDC/APHL, the process of validating data quality begins with the state.
- DHEC will reach out to give feedback once they are able to review your messages and discuss potentially turning off manual reporting processes.
Key Information
The following documents and links provide guidance for health care organizations seeking to send eCR messages to DHEC.
- South Carolina eCR Registration Form - to be published upon declaration of readiness
- APHL - eCR for Healthcare Providers
- Certified Health IT Products List
- CDC – Getting Started with eCR
For additional information or questions regarding the eCR at DHEC, please send an email to [email protected].