eCR FAQs
eCR Resources
Texas DSHS Initiating New Electronic Case Reporting Effort in 2021
Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) is excited to announce plans to begin electronic case reporting (eCR) soon. eCR is the generation and transmission of case reports from an electronic health record (EHR) to public health for review and action. eCR allows
healthcare providers and facilities to report cases to DSHS for further investigation from their EHR, rather than manually reporting. The initial electronic case report aims to capture critical clinical and demographic patient data not previously included in electronic laboratory reports submitted to public health.
eCR builds on interoperability work begun with earlier stages of Promoting Interoperability Program (PI). The initial stage of eCR focuses on the initial case report; later stages may include a response from public health to the reporting clinician that may include outbreak information for
providers, links to treatment guidelines and recommendations, and other clinically relevant information.
DSHS is in the preliminary stages of developing processes needed to begin pilot testing with selected reporters. Providers eligible to participate in pilot testing must be able to meet all of the following criteria:
- Facilities or providers who utilize EPIC EHR and meet all eligibility criteria above who are interested in eCR pilot testing are encouraged to email DSHS at TexaseCR@dshs.texas.gov. Interested eligible facilities may register via the following link: Registration Form to Submit Electronic Case Reports (eCR) to Texas DSHS (smartsheet.com).
- Facility or provider must have an EHR that is able to produce a conformant message according to the Public Health Document Container (PHDC) and HL7 CDA® R2 Implementation Guide: Public Health Case Report, Release 2 – US Realm the Electronic Case Report (eCR).
- Facility or provider will begin by working with DSHS to develop conformant eCR message initially for COVID-19. Facilities or providers who utilize EPIC EHR and meet all eligibility criteria above who are interested in eCR pilot testing are encouraged to email DSHS at TexaseCR@dshs.texas.gov. Interested eligible facilities may register via the following link: Registration Form to Submit Electronic Case Reports (eCR) to Texas DSHS (smartsheet.com).