Project to assist hospital labs in submitting electronic data

Surescripts, the American Hospital Association, and the College of American Pathologists have been awarded a $4.9 million grant to launch a program to prepare hospitals to submit electronic data on reportable lab results to public health agencies. The program aims to recruit, educate, and connect at least 500 hospital labs to public health agencies. The project will provide technical assistance to enable hospital labs to begin transmitting lab results electronically within six months. The goal is to assist hospitals in electronically reporting a core set of lab reports to public health agencies. The benefits of successful electronic lab reporting to public health agencies include increasing the speed of response to communicable diseases, increasing completeness of reporting, and reducing manual labor required.