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BACKGROUND: VHA is the largest integrated health care system in the U.S., covering all states, territories and the District of Columbia. VHA policy mandates reporting of reportable infectious diseases to local, state and territory public health departments legally authorized to receive such information and VHA endeavors to be good partners with public health. Each public health jurisdiction has somewhat different disease reporting requirements. Veterans Affairs (VA) staff may be required to comply with reporting requirements for multiple jurisdictions that do not share a standard process for disease reporting. The main objective of this project was to develop a Public Health Reporting Toolkit containing current disease reporting regulations and methods for VA staff.
METHODS: The design of the Toolkit focused on compiling the required disease reporting information from states and territories. A hyperlink table to Public Health Departments’ websites (Linked Table) and six frequently asked questions (FAQs) were developed. The FAQs were based on questions received from VA staff. The Toolkit used the Council of State and Territory Epidemiologist (CSTE) State Reportable Conditions Assessment webpage as a model, but a simplified version was devised. Multiple versions of the Toolkit were developed and in collaboration with VHA Office of Public Health (OPH) personnel a final version was produced. Parameters considered in the Toolkit development were time saving and ease of use.
RESULTS: The electronic Toolkit is located in a SharePoint website readily accessible to all VA staff. It includes information regarding mandatory requirements such as what conditions to report and corresponding timeframes. In addition, the Linked Table provides direct access to state or territory’s reporting documents, saving search time and effort. The FAQs were created to inform VA staff regarding new regulations and to eliminate confusion. The Toolkit is currently accessible to all VA staff and is updated every three months by OPH personnel. A challenge identified during Toolkit development was that some jurisdiction’s reporting websites were hard to find and/or were not up-to-date and some do not appear to have any information available. Furthermore, jurisdictions generally have different reportable diseases and timeframes.
CONCLUSIONS: The Toolkit provides a practical, useful and easy-to-use disease report instrument. It was developed to facilitate the process in which VA staff report diseases, with the goal of improving compliance.