Evaluation of vocabularies for electronic laboratory reporting to public health agencies.

Clinical laboratories and clinicians transmit certain laboratory test results to public health agencies as required by state or local law. Most of these surveillance data are currently received by conventional mail or facsimile transmission. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists, and Association of Public Health Laboratories are preparing to implement surveillance systems that will use existing laboratory information systems to transmit electronic laboratory results to appropriate public health agencies. The authors anticipate that this will improve the reporting efficiency for these laboratories, reduce manual data entry, and greatly increase the timeliness and utility of the data. The vocabulary and messaging standards used should encourage participation in these new electronic reporting systems by minimizing the cost and inconvenience to laboratories while providing for accurate and complete communication of needed data. This article describes public health data requirements and the influence of vocabulary and messaging standards on implementation.