Accelerating Data Modernization in Public Health Departments

Technical Guidance for ELC Recipients
ELC provided technical guidance to recipients that outlined detailed information about the funding award and specific data modernization activities covered under this award. Find this guidance here.

The Data Modernization – COVID supplemental award, funded through the Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity for Prevention and Control of Emerging Infectious Diseases (ELC) Cooperative Agreement, awarded $200 million to 64 public health jurisdictions for a new, two-year program that will support data modernization efforts in three key areas:

Tier 1: Core Data Modernization Infrastructure ($46 million): All 64 ELC recipients received funds under this tier to:

Lead and coordinate data modernization efforts in the recipient’s health jurisdiction.
Document and understand workforce, data, and health information system needs and opportunities.
Implement workforce enhancements to accelerate data modernization.
Accelerate improvements to data quality, exchange, management, and use.

Tier 2: Electronic Case Reporting (eCR) Scale Up (Approximately $77 million): Funding, administered through two levels, based on ELC recipient’s eCR status. With this funding, recipients will:

Use available eCR data for disease monitoring and case investigation.
Onboard healthcare providers and hospitals, including authoring information to support bidirectional communications and implement eCR using Health Level 7 (HL7®) eCR standards and the Association of Public Health Laboratories Informatics Messaging Services (APHL AIMS).
Expand diseases and conditions utilizing eCR in the recipient’s jurisdiction.

Tier 3: National Vital Statistics System (NVSS) Modernization (Approximately $77 million): All 57 ELC recipients who are part of NVSS (i.e., 50 states, American Samoa, Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, New York City, Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands, and Washington DC) received an average award of $1.35M for this funding tier. With this funding, recipients will:

Support development and implementation of Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR®)-based interoperability between recipients’ Electronic Death Reporting System Online Reference Manual (cdc.gov) and the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). This modernization will allow for faster, more automated sharing of vital statistics between state and national levels.