Public Health Registries: Promoting Interoperability

The Division of Public Health (DPH) has the capability to electronically receive the following data from certified electronic health record (EHR) technology:

• Cancer Data: Directly to the Wisconsin Cancer Reporting System (WCRS)
• Electronic Case Reporting: Directly to the Wisconsin Electronic Disease Surveillance System (WEDSS)
• Immunizations: Directly to the Wisconsin Immunization Registry (WIR) or through the Wisconsin Statewide Health Information Network (WISHIN) to WIR
• Electronic Lab Reporting: Directly to the Wisconsin Electronic Disease Surveillance System (WEDSS) through the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene (WSLH)
• Syndromic Surveillance: Directly to the BioSense Platform or through DPH and/or WISHIN to the BioSense Platform

In January 2014, DPH launched the Public Health Registration for Electronic Data Submission System (PHREDS), a SharePoint site where providers register their intent to submit data from Certified Electronic Health Record Technology (CEHRT) to a public health program. Providers who would like to electronically submit data from CEHRT to the Cancer, Immunizations, electronic lab reporting, and/or Syndromic Surveillance programs must register through PHREDS regardless of their intent to participate in Promoting Interoperability.

Get started

1. Choose the public health data your organization plans to electronically submit (e.g., cancer cases, immunizations, electronic lab reporting, and/or syndromic surveillance data).
   • To learn about a public health program’s onboarding process (e.g., technical and resource capacity, information required to register, and detailed onboarding checklist), select one of the program links on the top left menu.
   • To learn how Wisconsin providers can meet Public Health Promoting Interoperability standards, visit the Reporting Guidance page. This page also contains Wisconsin's declaration of readiness to receive data for Promoting Interoperability.
2. Enroll in PHREDS.
   • Enrolling in PHREDS is an intermediate step that grants a user access to the registration system. All providers must enroll in PHREDS before they can register to electronically submit data to a public health program.
   • To learn how to enroll in PHREDS, visit the PHREDS Enrollment and Registration of Intent page.
3. Register using either an existing form or create a new PHREDS registration form to demonstrate your intent to electronically submit data and/or meet public health Promoting Interoperability measures.
   • Enrollment (step 2 above) is required to access PHREDS.
   • To learn how to submit a PHREDS registration form for the public health programs, visit the PHREDS Enrollment and Registration of Intent page.
4. Wait in the queue.
   • Providers in the queue are awaiting an invitation to begin the onboarding process from the public health program. To learn about a public health program’s onboarding process, select one of the program links on the top left menu.
5. Participate in the onboarding process.
   • Onboarding is the testing and validation process providers and public health programs engage in prior to ongoing submission of production data.
6. Save acknowledgements, the only form of official communication from DPH to providers.
   • Acknowledgements affirm the status of registration, testing, and/or ongoing submission of public health data for Promoting Interoperability. In the event of an audit, providers will use acknowledgments to substantiate their Promoting Interoperability attestation.
   • It is recommended that all organizations/sites save a copy of the acknowledgements file (in excel format) dated after the end of their EHR reporting period, even if they are still in the onboarding queue or have achieved ongoing submission of production data.  
   • Please note DPH does not provide Promoting Interoperability Acknowledgements for any specialized registries outside of those sponsored by DPH and listed on the public health Promoting Interoperability website. We encourage providers to consider the availability of supporting documentation to support their "active engagement" before attesting to the use of a specialized registry outside of those offered by DPH. 
   • To learn about acknowledgements, visit the Acknowledgements page in PHREDS.

Have questions about public health Promoting Interoperability?

Promoting Interoperability is the standard by which providers demonstrate the use of CEHRT in ways that can positively affect the care of patients. Promoting Interoperability is phased in stages. To meet Promoting Interoperability standards and receive an incentive payment, providers must meet a set number of objectives and measures established for the Promoting Interoperability Program, which includes the public health reporting objective and measures summarized on the Reporting Guidance page.

• CMS (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services) FAQs about Promoting Interoperability
• CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) responses to FAQs about Promoting Interoperability

If you have any other questions, email the Wisconsin eHealth Program.