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Electronic Health Records (EHR) Meaningful Use Requirements

Electronic Laboratory Reporting (ELR)

Electronic Laboratory Reporting for eligible hospitals under HITECH in North Carolina includes three areas:

Please note: NCDPH is not requesting and will not receive Electronic Laboratory Reports from eligible professionals.

If you would like to register your intent with the North Carolina Division of Public Health to initiate electronic laboratory reporting, please complete and submit the ELR Registration Survey.

Communicable Disease & Blood Lead ELR

For an eligible hospital in North Carolina to meet the Stage 1 measure for Meaningful Use of ELR to Public Health, the hospital must:

  1. Obtain Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) certification of the hospital's ELR-to-Public Health interface module.
  2. Transmit at least one ELR test file to the N.C. Division of Public Health.
  3. If the testing with the N.C. Division of Public Health is successful, implement ongoing ELR transmissions from the hospital's Production System.

Access the exact wording of the Federal regulation governing the Stage 1 measure for Meaningful Use of ELR to Public Health.

ONC Certification for the ELR Interface Module

A hospital must obtain this certification from an ONC-Authorized Testing and Certification Body. Please note that this is certification of compliance to ONC minimum requirements, not of compliance to the N.C. Division of Public Health requirements (see below). Useful information about the ONC certification testing procedures for ELR and a testing tool are available on the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) website.

It is the preference of the N.C. Division of Public Health that a hospital would use an ELR interface module that obtains laboratory result data directly from the hospital's Laboratory Information System rather than indirectly via the hospital's Electronic Medical Record System. That reduces the risk of loss of detail that may occur when data is transformed from one system to another.

N.C. Division of Public Health Requirements

The N.C. Division of Public Health requirements for ELR are more extensive than the minimum requirements for ONC certification of the ELR Interface to Public Health. See details of the N.C. Division of Public Health ELR requirements.

The N.C. Division of Public Health will also test and accept ELR transmissions from software that has not been ONC-certified; however, such transmissions would not qualify as a Meaningful Use measure.

Guidelines for Electronic Laboratory Reporting to the N.C. Divsion of Public Health (for Hospitals and Commercial Laboratories). (PDF, 376KB / April 2013)

How to begin ELR with N.C. DPH.

Some recommended tasks for inclusion in project plans.

Reporting results for non-North Carolina residents.

Contacts

For further information about ELR for Communicable Disease and Blood Lead to the N.C. Division of Public Health Requirements, please complete the registration questionnaire or contact:

Emilie Lamb
Acting Meaningful Use Program Consultant
N.C. DHHS, Division of Public Health
Emilie.Lamb@dhhs.nc.gov
(919) 733-9587

Walter Kemper
ELR Coordinator for the NC EDSS Project
N.C. DHHS, Division of Public Health
Walter.Kemper@dhhs.nc.gov
(919) 426-3468

Renny Johnson
Business and Technology Application Specialist
N.C. DHHS, Division of Public Health
Renny.Johnson@dhhs.nc.gov
(919) 707-5164