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Getting to Yes: Progress Toward the Reportable Conditions Knowledge Management System (RCKMS)

Tuesday, June 16, 2015: 10:30 AM
Back Bay B, Sheraton Hotel
Rita Altamore , Washington State Department of Health, Tumwater, WA
Lauri Smithee , Oklahoma State Department of Health, Oklahoma City, OK
Jennifer Vahora , Illinois Department of Public Health, Chicago, IL
Ryan M. Arnold , Houston Department of Health and Human Services, Houston, TX
Audio File Recorded Presentation

BACKGROUND: The reportable conditions system is a cornerstone of public health surveillance.  Accurate, timely and complete reporting of reportable conditions depends on reporters having correct and current information about the “who, what, when, where, and how” of reporting.  Automated detection and electronic reporting depends on having this information available in machine-processable form.  Currently, this information is fragmented and difficult even for humans to use; it is rarely presented in a  manner suitable for machine processing.  At its conclusion in 2012, the CDC/CSTE ELR Task Force prioritized collaborative development of the Reportable Conditions Knowledge Management System (RCKMS) as a next step to strengthen disease surveillance in the United States. 

METHODS: The RCKMS is in development.  The RCKMS is a single, comprehensive, authoritative, real-time portal to reportable conditions information; it is not a monolith, but rather a federation of knowledge resources that appears to a human user, or to an information system, to be a single entity.   Development is funded by CDC; design and development is guided by a collaborative with leadership from CSTE, CDC, APHL and other public health, health care delivery, and health information technology stakeholders. 

RESULTS: An initial pilot version of RCKMS  was created, which included knowledge associated with selected reportable conditions, both base content (derived from CSTE position statements) and specific content for selected jurisdictions.  A successful pilot test of provisioning knowledge from that system to a commercial EHR system was conducted.  Current activities include extending the base content, building the authoring interface, and refining output methods, including a current pilot provisioning knowledge to laboratories for use in ELR.  This panel will:

  • review the current status of and next steps for RCKMS (Altamore)
  • present experiences from two jurisdictions participating in the current RCKMS pilot (Vahora, Ryan)
  • describe current efforts to harmonize national and jurisdictional reporting criteria and to reduce unnecessary variation (Smithee).

CONCLUSIONS: RCKMS will change reportable conditions reporting in the US, as well as the responsibilities and activities of CSTE.  Providing -- and maintaining -- a single, comprehensive, authoritative, real-time portal to reportable conditions information presents substantial challenges, to which the public health community.

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