Go directly to the Ohio Department of Health for Public Health Reporting.

You can download This PDF: Hospital Fact Sheet on Public Health Reporting

Eligible Hospital/Critical Access Hospital Public Health Reporting 2017 and Beyond

For hospital clients needing assistance, CliniSync provides a conduit to submit data to the Ohio Department of Health (ODH) or its designee for the following public health programs:

  • Syndromic Surveillance Reporting to HMS/Epicenter
  • Vaccination Administration Reporting to Ohio’s Immunization Registry (ImpactSIIS)
  • Electronic Lab Reporting to the Ohio Disease Reporting System (ODRS)

Please note these are “pass-through” interfaces. This means CliniSync submits the data to ODH or its designee as sent by the facility. Therefore, clients and their vendors are responsible for formatting and populating data as required by the specific ODH program and resolving any issues.

Hospital Readiness Steps

For each step noted below, additional information is provided in the following sections.

  1. Verify with your EHR vendor that they are certified to support the public health objectives you select for your desired Meaningful Use reporting period.
  2. If a system upgrade is required that will result in a change to one or more of your public health interfaces via CliniSync, create a CliniSync Ticket through CliniSync Support (https://clinisync.org/member-resources/clinisync-support/) to notify us of your planned major system upgrade target date.
  3. Verify your hospital’s information is current and accurate on the Ohio Public Health Reporting and Enrollment Site. Retrieve required ODH program policy and technical documentation via this site as needed and share with your vendor.
  4. Contact ODH to initiate steps to onboard and/or upgrade your source systems for public health reporting. ODH will lead you through the testing and approval process that is required for each program before moving any changes into Production.

#1 – EHR Vendor Readiness

If you intend to meet Meaningful Use for Modified Stage 2 or Stage 3, you will need to confirm with your EHR vendor if they are certified appropriately by the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC). For Modified Stage 2 MU, your solutions must be 2014-certified for public health measures. For Stage 3, your solutions must be 2015-certified for public health measures.

  • To check your vendor’s ONC certification status, see https://chpl.healthit.gov/#/search
  • Be sure to ask when the certified version would be available to your organization for implementation.
  • ONC is no longer certifying HIEs that pass-through data; therefore, it is important that your EHR vendor maintain their certification status.
  • ODH wants to know when you plan to upgrade to your 2015-certified version via the contacts listed below.
  • Clients are responsible for maintaining communications between their EHR vendor and ODH.

Important note regarding Immunization Registry Reporting:

  • Stage 3 MU Immunization Registry Reporting requires both the submission of vaccination data to the State’s public health authority and the ability to query, retrieve and reconcile a patient’s immunization history within your EHR.
  • For hospitals already submitting vaccination data to ODH via CliniSync, CliniSync can continue to support the submission process; however, your vendor must directly enable and support the query/retrieve portion of this requirement with ODH.
  • Several EHR vendors are requiring these functions to be consolidated and directly managed between the EHR and ODH. This is particularly true for ambulatory providers. For this reason, CliniSync is recommending that ambulatory providers consolidate public health reporting through their EHR vendors.
  • As with all public health reporting programs, ODH determines when providers are invited to onboard for either the submission of immunization data or query/retrieval of data based on their resource availability.

#2 – CliniSync Support

Please visit our CliniSync Support Portal to report a planned major system upgrade that will affect your CliniSync interfaces. Client’s may open a ticket at any time via www.support.clinisync.org or 1-800-645-8192. Be sure to denote when you plan to upgrade your systems.

#3 – Ohio Public Health Reporting and Enrollment Website

ODH consolidates all public health reporting requirements through their Ohio Public Health Reporting and Enrollment website: https://www.ohiopublichealthreporting.info/Enrollment. Through this website, clients will be able to:

  • Enroll and register their hospital and/or physicians for Ohio public health reporting as required to meet Meaningful Use.
  • Locate specific policy and/or technical requirements for each program. Navigate to the MEANINGFUL USE TAB to select the specific program to find policy requirements. Scroll down to find the “Technical Information” links.

#4- ODH Contacts

Clients will be responsible for directly contacting and maintaining communications with the Ohio Department of Health as they onboard and/or upgrade their source systems reporting to these programs. Contacts for each public health program are provided below:

Syndromic Surveillance Policy: Richard Thomas, SMED@odh.ohio.gov or Richard.Thomas@odh.ohio.gov at 614.995.5599.

Syndromic Surveillance Technical Integration: Rachel Molzen, rachel.molzen@hmsinc.com Kristen Weiss at Kristen.Weiss@hmsinc.com at 412-231-2020 ext 119.

Immunization Registry Reporting: ImpactEMR@odh.ohio.gov or Brian Napier,  Brian.Napier@odh.ohio.gov at 1.866.349.0002.

Electronic Lab Reporting: Bill Storm, William.Storm@odh.ohio.gov or 614.728.3343

CliniSyncPLUS Guidance

Our CliniSyncPLUS experts can assist you with any questions about public health objectives to meet Meaningful Use or MACRA requirements. To leverage this expertise, you must sign up for these services. Please contact CliniSyncPLUS@clinisync.org if you are interested in this type of support.

Additional ODH Contacts

Although CliniSync does not support Cancer Registry or other program reporting, additional ODH contacts are provided below for your convenience:

Cancer Registry: Lynn Giljahn, Lynn.Giljahn@odh.ohio.gov or call 614.644.1844

For General OPHR Assistance: Michael Hansen, Michael.Hansen@odh.ohio.gov

Manager, Bureau of Infectious Diseases: Elizabeth Cross, Elizabeth.Cross@odh.ohio.gov or 614.466.1370

Chief, Bureau of Informatics and Data Management (which oversees ODH MU Policy): Brian Fowler, Brian.Fowler@odh.ohio.gov or 614.466.1402