Division of Informatics and Information Systems

CMS Promoting Interoperability Program

Promoting Interoperability (PI), formerly known as “Meaningful Use”, focuses on increasing interoperability, patient data access, and system-wide health information exchange. This initiative helps reduce the burden on clinical care providers, improves timeliness and accuracy of clinical information provided to public health agencies, and facilitates the monitoring, surveillance and investigation of public health events to improve health outcomes.

The DIIS Messaging team works with Eligible Hospitals (EH) and Eligible Providers (EP) to onboard for the PI measures of Electronic Case Reporting (eCR) and Electronic Laboratory Reporting (ELR).

For information about the PI Program in Virginia, please visit the VDH Promoting Interoperability website. For general information on PI requirements, please refer to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) website.

Non-CMS Incentive Electronic Messaging

The DIIS Messaging team also manages all eCR, ELR and COVID-19 Point-of-Care (POC) Portal messaging. The team works with facilities and providers to successfully onboard them via any of the available reporting methods and ensures reporting and surveillance systems requirements are met.

Electronic Messaging Reporting Methods

• Electronic Case Reporting (eCR) is the automated process of generating and transmitting case reports from electronic health records.
• Electronic Lab Reporting (ELR) is the electronic transmission of reportable laboratory test results via HL7 messages or flat file records.
• COVID-19 Point of Care Portal (POC) is a secure site for healthcare professionals to submit rapid COVID-19 POC Testing results. POC Testing is a medical diagnostic testing conducted outside of a traditional setting that occurs at the time and place of patient care (i.e., physician’s office, pharmacy, nursing home, etc.).
• Healthcare professionals not yet ready to send eCRs, but who want an alternative to the paper-based EPI-1, can securely report patient-based morbidity through the Clinical Confidential Morbidity Reporting Portal. See the portal user guide here.
• For more information on Disease Reporting and Control Regulations, please click here. 

For any question regarding electronic disease reporting, please contact DIISMessaging@vdh.virginia.gov.

The Analytics and Visualization (A&V) team seeks to provide resources, assistance, and data products for all divisions within the Office of Epidemiology. This work is critical to making data-driven decisions.