Electronic lab reporting said to be more thorough than paper systems
- By Heather B. Hayes
- Jan 23, 2008
The use of electronic laboratory reporting (ELR) produces more complete and more timely disease surveillance than the current reporting standard of paper-based notification by doctors, hospitals and laboratories, according to a new study conducted by the Regenstrief Institute and the Indiana University School of Medicine.
ELR findings are automatically transmitted in real time, as results are completed, while staff members prepare paper reports as time permits.
The study, one of the first to evaluate ELR against spontaneous reporting, will be published in the February issue of the American Journal of Public Health.
Working solely in Marion County, Ind., during a three-month study period, researchers compared paper reports manually submitted to the local public health department with automated ELR through the communitywide Indiana Health Information Exchange (IHIE).
The study found that automated ELR identified 4.4 times as many notifiable diseases as paper-based methods, and it identified those cases 7.9 days earlier than spontaneous reporting.
“If we rely on the traditional, slower paper approach to disease surveillance, there is less opportunity to intervene at an early stage,” said Dr. J. Marc Overhage, first author of the study, director of medical informatics at the Regenstrief Institute and president and chief executive officer of the IHIE. “And with many of these diseases, time is of the essence.”
Researchers also determined that electronic reporting of notifiable conditions according to standards recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is feasible and scalable.
“These findings are particularly notable because they are based on nearly all notifiable conditions in a large population and reflect the performance of a system that relies on (the CDC’s) Public Health Information Network standards,” the authors wrote.
By improving the completeness and timeliness of laboratory reporting to public health departments, the report states, ELR can enhance disease surveillance capability, public awareness and reporting efficiency.
Researchers said they believe that reliance on ELR could also help increase the feasibility of creating a true nationwide health information network because the technology allows tighter integration of public health information flows with clinical information flows.
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