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CSTE National ELR Workgroup

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Becky Lampkins, Manager, Surveillance/Informatics Program at CSTEMegan Toe, CSTEScott Troppy, Surveillance Epidemiologist at MA DPHMeredith Lichtenstein, CSTEAmy Drake, NMJohn RobertsNancy Barrett, Epi 4/PH Informatics SpecialistErin Holt, TDHRita Altamore, EpidemiologistDavid DiCesareJason HallWalter Kemper, ELR Coordinator, NC DHHS Div of Public HealthJulie LuepkeCarmen Pugh, Labcorp Manager State Reporting at LabCorpTom Safranek +399 others
Posted by Kristy Lunquest ·

Collection dates in NEDSS

Hello,

I am currently dealing with an issue with our state lab where not all ELRs have specimen collection dates. The lab should be getting that information, but in the cases where it is not filled in (very few but I would still like them in our surveillance system), our lab is using "0000" which causes the lab to fail. We have considered using other dates within the HL7 message to populate this field, but we really don't want to change any of the message/falsify any dates. Does anyone else have a solution for this?

Thanks,
Kristy

Comments & Events

Nancy Barrett, Epi 4/PH Informatics Specialist Nancy Barrett, Epi 4/PH Informatics Specialist
Hi, our State Lab has the same issue and does not have the staff or a robust enough protocol to call submitters to collect specimen collection date. For diseases that must have this date, like the STDs, we've used date received as a substitute. Usually that is close to the actual spec coll date. 
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Riki Merrick, Terminologist at APHL Riki Merrick, Terminologist at APHL
0000 is the official way to indicate unknown dates in ELR (for fields that are required, like OBR-7/SPM-17) - and best practice, if the lab does not have the resources to actually obtain the date, is what nancy mentions- use the specimen received date (SPM-18), which is also required and all labs should have that.

Riki
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Walter Kemper, ELR Coordinator, NC DHHS Div of Public Health Walter Kemper, ELR Coordinator, NC DHHS Div of Public Health
When the specimen collection date value is "0000" we have our integration engine change that field to empty so that when the message is imported into our Maven system the field is empty.
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