Public Health Registries: Electronic Reportable Laboratory Result Reporting

This is the onboarding page for electronic lab reporting (ELR). Onboarding refers to the testing and validation process that providers and public health programs engage in prior to ongoing submission of data from certified electronic health record (EHR) technology (CEHRT). This page contains information on the Division of Public Health (DPH) electronic lab reporting program, including:

Web-based lab reporting
Technical capacity to receive data
Resource/administrative capacity and queue prioritization
Information required to register with the program

Web-based lab reporting (WLR)

The Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene (WSLH) is primarily implementing ELR connections to facilities such as hospitals or clinics with high result volumes. Locations with lower reporting capacity that may be utilizing in-house or point-of-care testing, web-based laboratory reporting (WLR) is recommended.

Registration is required for WLR and can be found on the WSLH website.
For more information about surveillance activities at WSLH visit their website.

Technical capacity and specifications

The Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene (WSLH) is technically capable of receiving electronic HL7 2.5.1 reportable lab results on behalf of DPH.

Any eligible facility wanting to satisfy the public health reporting measure for ELR data submission must conform to the HL7 2.5.1 standard and LOINC V2.27. The technology used by the sending facility to generate the reportable lab result in HL7 2.5.1 message has to be a federally certified 2015 Edition EHR technology for this measure.

Resource capacity and prioritization

WSLH has limited resource capacity to onboard with new facilities for ELR. WSLH is prioritizing facilities that report at least 25 lab results per month. While waiting in onboarding queue, we ask facilities to send labs to WSLH through WLR.

Changes to Promoting Interoperability rules for the CMS (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services)

Note that program specifications have changed in 2023 for Promoting Interoperability for eligible hospitals, critical access hospitals and eligible professionals. It is important to consider these rules when choosing an EHR reporting period in 2023.

For more information about CMS rules for hospitals visit the CMS website.
For more information about CMS rules for eligible professionals and merit-based incentive payment system (MIPS), visit the CMS website.

Information required to register for PHREDS

To register for ELR, you will need to provide the following information:

Organization name
Primary technical contact information (phone number and email address)
Primary contact information (phone number and email address), if applicable
Primary address
Promoting Interoperability stage and year, if applicable
EHR vendor name
EHR product name and version of product
LIMS product name
Whether your hospital is capable of submitting reportable lab results that conform to the HL7 2.5.1 standard
Whether your hospital is capable of submitting reportable lab results that conform to the LOINC V2.27 standard
An estimate of the quantity of reportable lab results identified or suspected each month.

For providers intending to meet Promoting Interoperability, the ELR program will not begin the onboarding process until after you have registered.

If you would like to register to submit HL7 2.5.1 reportable lab results using your CEHRT please visit the PHREDS Enrollment and Registration of Intent page.

Questions?

If you have questions concerning technical onboarding protocols for submitting ELR from your CEHRT, email the ELR team.

If you have questions concerning the registration process, email the Wisconsin eHealth Program.