eCR Healthcare Data Challenge
Healthcare organizations can improve public health action in their communities by helping to accelerate the use of occupational data and other social determinants of health captured in healthcare settings through electronic case reporting (eCR).
In the eCR Healthcare Data Challenge (“the Challenge”) your goal is to collect and electronically report complete case information from healthcare organizations to public health agencies (PHAs) so they can better prepare for, and respond to, health concerns in their jurisdictions.1 See the Challenge Requirements page for details on eligibility criteria and data requirements.
Awards
Awardees can receive up to $150,000!
- Up to two awards of $125,000, each.
- Supplemental award! Awardees who fulfill the required Challenge criteria and have included silicosis case reporting will receive an additional $25,000.
Bonus! Sponsors from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) will be available after the Challenge ends to consult about the use of patients’ work information for population health activities, such as assessing patient risk and opportunities for improving the health of workers. For example, patients’ work information as described by Occupational Data for Health (ODH) can be used to improve clinicians’ ability to recognize silicosis among patients at risk.
Additional Challenge Benefits
- Successful participants will meet eCR requirements for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Promoting Interoperability Program and the Merit based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) Final Rule.
- Completing the Challenge will help EHRs meet the ONC HTI-1 certification criteria, including requirements for providing the capability to code job industry and job occupation to the full ODH value sets, as specified in USCDI V3. Recent updates to the Certification Program’s standards, criteria, and requirements also include using HL7® Consolidated Document Architecture (CDA) Implementation Guides or HL7 Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR ®)-based specifications for eCR.
- The Challenge data elements support the Cures Act and U.S. Core Data for Interoperability (USCDI) V3 requirements.
Key Dates
Monday, September 09, 2024
Kick-off Call
Join us for the eCR Healthcare Data Challenge Kick-Off Call. (See meeting details below.)
Friday, February 28, 2025
Express Interest
Complete the non-binding Challenge Participation Interest Form by midnight ET.
Thursday, May 1, 2025
Submit materials
Submit evidence of completion to eCRsupport@aimsplatform.org by midnight ET. (See additional details and guidance below.)
Next Steps
Review the following information about the Challenge and reach out to eCRsupport@aimsplatform.org with any additional questions:
Join us for for the kick-off on Monday, September 9, 2024 at 11:00AM ET to learn more about the Challenge. (See meeting details below.)
Microsoft Teams
Meeting ID: 267 218 167 982
Passcode: 5iNQX3
Let us know if you intend to participate in the Challenge by completing the non-binding Challenge Participation Interest Form by midnight ET on Friday, February 28, 2025.
Note: completing the form does not bind your organization to participate but will ensure you are included on future communications regarding the Challenge.
Email evidence of completion of the Challenge criteria to eCRsupport@aimsplatform.org by midnight ET on Thursday, May 1, 2025. Completed submissions should include evidence that all challenge requirements were met as well as information and supporting evidence related to the judging criteria.
Submission materials should include the following:
Details about your team.
- Name of healthcare organization(s) and other team members involved in submission, as applicable.
- Contact information (name, email address, phone number, and organizational affiliations)
- EHR(s) name(s), product(s), and product version(s) used to enable eCR
- Name(s) of public health jurisdictions where implementation sites are located.
Written evidence of completing the Challenge requirements as well as evidence addressing the Challenge judging criteria.
See some examples below of types of written evidence that submitters can provide. We understand the methods and format of submissions may differ based on the EHR product, in addition to other factors. The methods and forms of evidence provided will be dependent on preferences and capabilities of submitters.
- Evidence of collecting and sending all required challenge data using the value sets and codes specified in the CDA eICR R3.1 standard.
- The number and percentage of documents sent that include the required challenge data, including analysis of correct and incorrect coding (e.g., spreadsheet, excluding any sensitive data, that shows aggregate data [numbers and percentages] of eICRs sent with the required challenge data).
- Evidence of collecting and sending additional challenge data using the value sets and codes specified in the CDA eICR R3.1 standard (as applicable).
- The number and percentage of documents sent that include additional challenge data elements, including analysis of correct and incorrect coding can improve the participant’s score.
- Evidence of successful eCR processing through the APHL AIMS Platform using the eICR R3.1 standard (e.g., aggregate report, excluding any sensitive data, with the number of reportability responses received).
- If applicable, evidence of the inclusion of silicosis case reporting.
- Evidence of using ODH to implement collection of patients’ work information in one or more healthcare facilities.
- Evidence that the ODH data collection methodology supports the accurate collection of the data using the ODH value sets while minimizing provider workflow disruption (e.g., narrative description or screenshots of functionality designed to minimize workflow disruption, such as interface wording).
- Evidence of communication/collaboration with the PHA(s) eCR and occupational health programs’ points of contact, if applicable (e.g., detailed narrative description).
Electronic case reporting (eCR) from EHRs to public health agencies (PHAs) has opened up a new world of electronically enabled public health action while reducing the burden of manual reporting on health care providers and their staff. Providers are legally required to report1 and can use eCR for the automated, secure, electronic transmission of case data. The data included in case reports, such as occupation and industry for job(s), can be available for timely public health action.
PHAs use social determinants of health (SDOH) and other data to track disease burden by outcomes or disease rates tied to conditions in the environments where people are born, live, learn, work, play, worship, and age that affect a wide range of health, functioning, and quality-of-life outcomes and risks. This includes race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability status, and work information, for example. Public health actions can include identifying clusters of disease, determining the relationships between disease and these factors, and developing and implementing specifically targeted interventions.
For example, silicosis is a severe lung disease which typically has a long latency but can have an acute onset after short-term exposure to very high concentrations of respirable crystalline silica. Case reports with coded work information, as described by Occupational Data for Health (ODH), will help PHAs identify new hazardous types of work and workplaces (e.g., engineered stone countertop manufacturing) and quickly respond with engineering interventions and education to prevent and manage the disease.
All of the data elements in the CDA eICR R3.1 standard are important to public health. For example, coded pregnancy status is critical for identifying and understanding the impact of many conditions and taking appropriate actions. For some conditions (e.g., Ebola, Coccidiomycosis) travel history is important. Symptoms are critical for other conditions (e.g., COVID, a polio-like acute flaccid myelitis affecting children) and can’t be acted on if they aren’t coded. Patients’ work information helps public health address health conditions related to work (e.g., silicosis), transmitted in the workplace (e.g., COVID-19), and whose management is affected by work (e.g., diabetes).
Finally, some eICR R3.1 elements add organizational efficiencies unavailable elsewhere. For example, a valid Facility National Provider Identifier (NPI) supports better tracking of Promoting Interoperability letters for health care organization (HCO) partners. Similarly, document custodian and author data allow identification of sender for troubleshooting.
