What You Ought to Know:
– A new transient using the newest 2024 Well being Info Nationwide Developments Survey (HINTS) knowledge reveals important progress in affected person and caregiver entry to on-line medical information and affected person portals. The report additionally highlights that just about all non-federal acute care hospitals within the U.S. have been engaged in digital public well being reporting in 2024, an important step in modernizing public well being knowledge trade. Nevertheless, regardless of marked progress, greater than 8 in 10 hospitals skilled at the very least one problem to digital public well being reporting throughout the yr.
– Enhancing seamless, safe public well being knowledge trade between healthcare and public well being businesses (PHAs) stays a key aim of information modernization efforts. The Facilities for Illness Management & Prevention (CDC) launched its Public Well being Information Technique (PHDS) in 2023 to deal with gaps, take away boundaries, and enhance knowledge availability for public well being decision-making and inhabitants well being.
Excessive Charges of Digital Public Well being Reporting
In 2024, practically all hospitals have been engaged in digital public well being reporting for core (required) knowledge sorts: immunization, syndromic surveillance, laboratory, and case reporting. Charges have been highest for these core knowledge sorts, which have been required by the Facilities for Medicare & Medicaid Companies (CMS) Medicare Selling Interoperability (PI) Program since 2022.
Key findings on reporting engagement embrace:
- Practically three-quarters of hospitals have been electronically reporting Antimicrobial Use and Resistance (AUR) knowledge shortly after it turned required in January 2024.
- Charges of digital public well being reporting have elevated over time for each required and non-compulsory reporting sorts (e.g., public well being and medical knowledge registry reporting).
- Digital case reporting noticed a considerable improve from 53% in 2021 to 84% in 2024, following its requirement within the PI program in 2022.
- Hospital engagement in public well being and medical knowledge registry reporting (which qualify for bonus factors however usually are not required) additionally elevated considerably between 2021 and 2024 (from 65% to 81% and 50% to 74%, respectively).
EHRs Dominate Submission Strategies, Automation on the Rise
Digital Well being Data (EHRs) have been the commonest methodology used to submit knowledge for digital public well being reporting in 2024. Most hospitals submitted knowledge straight by way of their EHR for core knowledge sorts, starting from 71% for digital case reporting to 86% for immunization registry reporting. Well being Info Change (HIE) organizations have been additionally generally used, particularly for core knowledge sorts, although their use diversified by state.
Whereas about half of hospitals submitted knowledge straight from their EHR for public well being registry, medical knowledge registry, and AUR reporting, portals and flat information have been nonetheless generally used for these non-compulsory reporting sorts.
Automation can be turning into prevalent:
- Absolutely or primarily automated processes have been predominantly used for core knowledge sorts, together with immunization (84%), syndromic (82%), lab (78%), and case (61%) reporting.
- Nevertheless, newly required and non-compulsory reporting for AUR, public well being registry, medical knowledge registry, and hospital capability reporting primarily occurred by way of a mixture of automated and handbook processes. About one-third of hospitals nonetheless use totally or primarily handbook processes for hospital capability reporting. Automated reporting is mutually helpful, decreasing supplier burden whereas bettering knowledge timeliness and accuracy for PHAs.
Variances in Reporting Engagement by Hospital Traits
Hospital engagement in digital public well being reporting diversified by hospital traits. On common, hospitals have been engaged in about 6 out of 8 measured reporting sorts, and practically all core sorts (3.5 out of 4).
Nevertheless:
- Small, rural, impartial, and significant entry hospitals have been engaged in fewer kinds of digital public well being reporting on common in comparison with their bigger, city, system-affiliated counterparts.
- Hospitals utilizing the market-leading EHR vendor engaged in additional kinds of digital public well being reporting in comparison with hospitals using non-market-leading distributors (6.7 vs. 5.8 on common).
- Small, rural, impartial, and significant entry hospitals, in addition to these not utilizing the main EHR vendor, had considerably decrease charges of submitting knowledge straight by way of the EHR for core reporting sorts.
Persistent Challenges to Public Well being Reporting
Regardless of important enhancements, hospitals proceed to face substantial challenges. In 2024, 81% of hospitals reported at the very least one problem to digital public well being reporting, with a mean of about 3 out of seven challenges reported.
The most typical challenges reported total have been:
- Technical complexity of interfaces, transmission, or submission processes (55%).
- Notion that PHAs lack the capability to electronically obtain info (50%).
Challenges have been highest for digital case reporting (59%) and AUR reporting (57%), doubtlessly on account of these sorts just lately turning into required by the CMS PI program. A few third of hospitals additionally reported onboarding and cost-related challenges, whereas 1 / 4 discovered it troublesome to extract related info from the EHR. Notably, solely 19% of hospitals reported no main challenges for any reporting sort.
The Path Ahead: Requirements, Collaboration, and Modernization
The COVID-19 pandemic uncovered enduring gaps within the public well being knowledge infrastructure that also hinder the usage of digital, standardized knowledge sharing. Ongoing federal efforts goal to deal with these points, together with the CDC’s PHDS give attention to automated options, and ASTP/ONC’s Well being IT Certification Program requiring builders to allow standardized knowledge submission to PHAs. America Core Information for Interoperability (USCDI+) Public Well being Initiative can be working in direction of a standardized set of information components to assist public well being use circumstances.
