Key points
- Electronic case reporting provides public health workers with access to more complete data and allows agencies to implement data-driven interventions.
- CDC prioritizes data modernization in rural health facilities including critical access hospitals (CAHs).
- CAH is a designation given to rural hospitals with 25 or fewer acute care inpatient beds that are typically located more than 35 miles from another hospital.
- The number of CAHs using eCR increased 368% during 2022-2024.
Full story
Public health agencies rely on timely and complete data to make informed decisions to protect the health of their communities. CDC works to improve the data public health agencies receive from healthcare providers, especially in rural and underserviced areas. Strategies for increasing electronic case reporting (eCR) use in rural communities include collaborating with electronic health record (EHR) vendors and partnering with rural health community organizations. These strategies resulted in a 368% increase in the number of rural critical access hospitals (CAHs) using eCR between 2022 and 2024, helping public health agencies and CDC identify disease trends in rural communities more quickly and take faster action to improve the public's health.
eCR is a key component of data modernization and alleviates the burden of manual reporting by automatically sending case reports to public health agencies, giving rural providers more time to care for the 60 million people who live in rural areas. The eCR team prioritizes increasing the use of eCR in CAHs. CAHs are rural hospitals with 25 or fewer acute care inpatient beds that are typically located more than 35 miles from another hospital.
As EHR vendors develop eCR capabilities in their products, the eCR team works with the vendors to offer eCR-capable products to CAHs before other healthcare facilities. As first users, CAHs have early access to send eCR reports to public health agencies. During 2023-2024, eight CAHs across six states were selected as the first users for four EHR products. The eCR team also partnered with several organizations, including Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium and Great Plains Health Alliance, to onboard multiple CAHs together as a group. Five CAHs in Alaska went live on July 25, 2023, and another 28 CAHs in Kansas went live on June 24, 2024.
As of November 12, 2024, 44.1% of CAHs nationwide are using eCR. CDC aims to increase the number of CAHs using eCR to 75% by September 2026. The eCR team continues to work with rural healthcare facilities to provide public health agencies with more complete data to inform and protect people who live, work, and play in rural communities. Access to more complete data allows public health agencies to implement data-driven interventions and reduce health disparities.