Validating Electronic Laboratory Reports of Notifiable Diseases from a National Laboratory – Maine, 2012-2013

BACKGROUND:  Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Maine CDC) is working with laboratories to implement and validate electronic laboratory reporting of notifiable diseases.  With the national push towards fulfilling Meaningful Use requirements, national laboratories are working with Maine CDC to send lab reports via electronic means instead of traditional methods.  In order for this to be accomplished, Maine CDC works with each laboratory to ensure that electronic lab reports (ELR) sent to Maine CDC are complete, accurate, and timely.

METHODS:  In 2012 and 2013, Maine CDC compared the ELR with the corresponding traditional reports that came in via fax, mail, and phone from a national reference lab, National Laboratory A. There was a count comparison to ensure a 1:1 ratio of reports and a comparison of the data to determine the completeness and accuracy of the ELR in critical fields.  Time and date of each ELR and traditional report from the laboratory were used to calculate the time difference between receipt of the ELR and the traditional report.  Maine CDC went through a three month validation period, producing bi-weekly reports on the validation results.

RESULTS:  Timeliness measures showed that the ELR arrived an average of 76 hours sooner than traditional reports.  The count comparison was found to be a 100% match for 83% of the validation period.  The completeness and accuracy analysis revealed key data elements consistently missing from ELR, including patient address.  Maine CDC found that the missing data elements stemmed from facilities that sent the specimens and ordered test results and not from National Laboratory A itself.  Maine CDC created letters for each ordering facility that ordered tests from National Laboratory A highlighting the missing data elements and reminding each of the requirements to report this data.  Six months after letters were sent, the lab results from the six months prior to the sending of the letters were compared to the results in the six month period following the letters.  This comparison showed an increase in the percentage (29.4% to 79.2%) of reports containing the patient address.

CONCLUSIONS:  Maine CDC successfully validated the ELR from National Laboratory A against the corresponding traditional reports for accuracy, timeliness, and completeness.  Issues with completeness and accuracy were satisfactorily addressed.  The timeliness of ELR was found to be acceptable.  Thus, Maine CDC was able to discontinue the need to receive the traditional reports, thereby improving efficiency in reporting and the intake of reports.