The Oregon ELR Project

About Electronic Laboratory Reporting

Historically, communicable disease reporting to state and county health departments was paper-based, relying heavily on FAX, telephone and snail mail. Today's sophisticated laboratory information systems bring an opportunity to move toward more timely and efficient electronic laboratory reporting. ELR data are critical to Public Health disease surveillance programs and thus to population health.

The Oregon ELR Project provides a one-stop drop-off point for laboratories to submit reportable data using electronic data interchange. In this system, the Public Health Division functions as an electronic hub to accept, route, and process electronic HL7 messages containing lab and clinical data.View a graphic that describes Oregon ELR Data Flow (pdf).

ELR Legally Mandated for High-Volume Laboratories

Electronic Laboratory Reporting (ELR) is mandated for laboratories sending an average of more than 30 records per month to the Public Health Division. For details, please review Oregon Administrative Rules (OARs), Division 18, Disease Reporting.
Civil penalties (Civil Penalties for Violations of OAR Chapter 333, Divisions 18 and 19) may be applied if qualifying laboratories fail to seek or obtain ELR approval to submit reports.
Reports for an individual who is not an Oregon resident or who does not reside in Oregon may not be made to the Oregon local public health administrator or the Authority, but shall be made to the jurisdictional public health authority of the patient's residence. Permanent changes to OAR, Division 18, 333-018-0005, (3) were effective 3/23/21.

COVID-19 ELR Reporting No Longer Required

COVID-19 test results should no longer be submitted via ELR.
Pediatric deaths related to COVID-19 and cases of MIS-C are to be reported using the online secure portal: www.healthoregon.org/howtoreport

Specifications

Oregon's HL7 2.5.1 ELR Implementation Guide (pdf). For a comprehensive guide on ELR message construction, visit HL7.org.

HL7 2.5.1 is the only acceptable standard for meeting Promoting Interoperability requirements.

We understand that sites without a Laboratory Information System or Electronic Health Records may not be prepared to submit HL7 data for reporting. Please review the Oregon's CSV (Alternative Format) ELR Implementation Guide (pdf) and request approval to use this format from our onboarding team.

This template (last updated Aug 2020) may be used to help you construct your message. All columns are required to be present even if not populated and format requirement from the CSV implementation guide must be followed.

Tools and Standards

Logical Observation Identifier Names and Codes (LOINC®) for specific laboratory procedure names
Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine (SNOMED®) for descriptions of findings, specifically for organism names
Reportable Condition Mapping Tables (RCMT) for mapping between reportable conditions, LOINC test codes, and SNOMED result codes.

Additional Resources

Download theOregon ELR Manual (pdf) for information to help determine your readiness to participate in Oregon's ELR program
TheOregon ELR Onboarding Diagram (pdf) is a visual depiction of the process from start to finish of electronic data exchange with the Oregon ELR Project
Laboratory Reporting Poster (pdf) (Note: poster size is 11x17")
Oregon Acute and Communicable Disease ProgramDisease Investigative Guidelines
List of labs (pdf) currently participating in the ELR project

Public Health Promoting Interoperability (aka, Meaningful Use)

ELR is a required Promoting Interoperability measure for eligible Hospitals and providers in Oregon. To meet requirements, laboratory data must be sent from an ONC certified Electronic Health Record System (EHR) or Laboratory Information Systems (LIS).Read more about the program.