The State Board of Health adopted an emergency rule to designate COVID-19 as a notifiable condition and require health care providers, health care facilities, laboratories, and local health departments to report race, ethnicity, and other essential data for COVID-19 at a special meeting on July 30.
So, how is the emergency rule different from the proposed permanent rule? The proposed permanent rule designates novel coronavirus (SARSCoV-2) as a notifiable condition and requires race and ethnicity reporting for all notifiable conditions. The emergency rule has additional reporting requirements above and beyond the proposed notifiable conditions rule for COVID-19 cases. The proposed permanent rule is expected to go into effect in early 2021, while the emergency rule is effective for 120 days. The emergency rule may need to be renewed in response to the COVID-19 public health emergency. If the emergency rule is renewed and in effect at the same time the proposed permanent rule goes into effect, regulated entities will still need to report on data elements specified in the emergency rule.
The state Department of Health will work to update its systems and provide additional information to health care providers, health care facilities, laboratories, and local health jurisdictions regarding implementation of this emergency rule in the coming weeks. Find more information on the Department’s reporting COVID-19 test results web page.
The Board has the authority to adopt rules for the prevention and control of infections and noninfectious diseases, as well as adopting rules that govern reporting information that is necessary for public health officials to protect the public's health by tracking communicable diseases and other conditions.
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, signed into law by President Trump on March 27, 2020, is intended to address the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Included in the law is a requirement for every laboratory that performs or analyzes a test intended to detect or diagnose a possible case of COVID-19 to report the results to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) through existing reporting channels through state and local public health departments until the end of the public health emergency declaration.
On June 4, 2020, HHS released guidance that defines data components that must be reported by laboratories along with COVID-19 test results. Reportable data requirements include demographic information such as the patient’s age, race, ethnicity, and sex. The guidance standardizes reporting to ensure that public health officials have access to comprehensive demographic data to inform decision making in their response to COVID-19.
Visit the Board’s emergency rule web page or the permanent rule web page for more information and links to the rule language and meeting materials.
