CDC FHIR® Implementation Guide: Anonymized Electronic Initial Case Reporting (eICR), published by APHL. This guide is not an authorized publication; it is the continuous build for version 1.0.0 built by the FHIR (HL7® FHIR® Standard) CI Build. This version is based on the current content of https://github.com/lantanagroup/FHIR-us-eicr-anonymized/ and changes regularly. See the Directory of published versions

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Official URL: http://fhir.org/fhir/us/anonymized-eicr/ImplementationGuide/ecr.fhir.us.anonymized-eicr				Version: 1.0.0
Active as of 2024-11-13				Computable Name: EICRAnonymized

Overview

FHIR Version:	FHIR R4
IG Realm:	US

IG Dependencies
HL7 FHIR Implementation Guide: Electronic Case Reporting (eCR) - US Realm 2.1.1

Introduction and Scope

With the widespread adoption and maturation of Electronic Health Records (EHRs), significant opportunities have emerged to enhance public health surveillance and improve the delivery of pertinent public health information to clinical care. Electronic Case Reporting (eCR) offers comprehensive and timely case data, supports disease and condition monitoring, and aids in outbreak management and control. Moreover, eCR improves bidirectional communication by providing public health information relevant to a patient’s condition and local disease trends, and by facilitating ad hoc communications. Additionally, eCR alleviates the burden on healthcare providers by automating the fulfillment of legal reporting requirements.

The Electronic Case Reporting (eCR) FHIR Implementation Guide (IG) establishes standards for the automated generation and transmission of case reports from electronic health records (EHRs) to public health agencies.

While ensuring the seamless exchange of this critical data, for some data flows it is imperative to safeguard patient privacy by anonymizing the eCR data.

This Implementation Guide introduces additional constraints to the profiles within the eCR FHIR IG to facilitate data anonymization. The goal is to enable the seamless transmission of anonymized health data while ensuring data integrity, confidentiality, and compliance with regulatory requirements.

Objectives

• Secure Data Transport: Define and standardize methods for the secure transmission of anonymized eCR data, ensuring data integrity and confidentiality throughout the process.
• Interoperability: Maintain the interoperability of eCR data by adhering to FHIR standards, ensuring that anonymized data can be seamlessly integrated and utilized by public health systems.
• Compliance and Best Practices: Ensure compliance with relevant privacy laws and regulations, such as HIPAA, and promote best practices for secure data transport.
• Implementation Guidance: Provide practical guidance for healthcare providers, developers, and public health agencies on implementing secure transport mechanisms within their eCR workflows.