HL7 Implementation Guide: National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) Healthcare Associated Infection (HAI) Reports for Long Term Care Facilities for CDA R2 and FHIR R4 (PSS-2247)

The current status of healthcare information technology in LTCFs is both a challenge and an opportunity.  While adoption of EHRs and other electronic systems lags behind the uptake in other settings, the possibilities for public health to partner with technology developers and implementers—and collaboratively influence the design and use of systems as they evolve in the LTCF arena—is in many ways greater than in the acute care sector.  Further, because several leading technology vendors in the LTCF market seek to provide analytics services as well as technology systems, links between public health and vendors can be leveraged in ways that yield benefits for surveillance and prevention that are tightly coupled to business models and growth.   

Capitalizing on the promise of a public-private sector partnership calls for strategic vision and plans that are actualized by achieving near-term successes with specific projects and deliverables.  One promising initiative is joint development of plans and work products to enable LTCF EHRs to serve as source systems for reporting HAI data to NHSN via industry electronic messages.  NHSN, working closely with the Health Level Seven (HL7) standards development organization and HL7 consultants, has developed and maintained electronic HAI reporting implementation guidance for EHRs and infection surveillance system vendors in the acute care arena. That experience, and the working relationships developed over a 10-year partnership, are an important foundation for a collaborative effort in which NHSN, HL7, HL7 consultants, and LTCFs EHRs vendors join forces to advance the field of electronic HAI reporting in the LTCF sector.