Electronic laboratory-based reporting for public health.

This article describes the role of laboratory-based reporting for public health in the United States and outlines a vision for electronic laboratory-based reporting (ELR). It emphasizes the importance of adoption and implementation of standards to the successful development of ELR. In particular, it describes the role of Health Level 7 as a standard for electronic message formats and the roles of LOINC (Logical Observation Identifiers, Names, and Codes) and SNOMED (Systematized Nomenclature for Human and Veterinary Medicine) as standards for test names and results, respectively. In addition, the article describes ongoing and planned ELR projects