Evaluating Notifiable Disease Reporting by Providers: Analysis of Data Element Completeness

Provider reporting of notifiable disease is a critical component of public health assessment and surveillance. To efficiently and effectively assess and respond to disease, health departments require complete data from providers. To better understand the level of completeness in provider reporting, we examined key data elements across 7 notifiable diseases reported to a local health department. We found that some fields are incomplete more than half the time and provider demographics are frequently missing. We discuss the implications on public health workflow and opportunities for improvement.