Electronic Case Reporting (eCR) | South Carolina Department of Public Health

Page last updated: 1/15/2025

eCR Overview

Electronic case reporting (eCR) is a data exchange process that automatically generates and securely transmits case information between health care organizations’ electronic health records (EHR) systems and public health agencies. eCR has several advantages, including greatly reducing the burden of manual reporting and increasing the accuracy of case information reported.

Electronic case reports are sent through the Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL) Informatics Messaging Services (AIMS) national platform and then routed to the appropriate public health agency.

In order to participate in eCR, health care organizations must be using an EHR that is on the Certified Health IT Products List. Technical onboarding is facilitated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and APHL along with the health care organization’s EHR system vendor.

Declaration of Readiness

As of Oct. 4, 2023, South Carolina began using the HL7 electronic initial case report (eICR) standards (R1.1 and R3.1) for electronic case reporting and to support the new Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services Promoting Interoperability regulations for eCR. South Carolina requires the use of the APHL AIMS platform and uses the Reportable Condition Knowledge Management System (RCKMS) to appropriately filter the inflow of eCR data. It is these standards that we will use to eventually eliminate manual reporting requirements in South Carolina.

Conditions Currently Reportable by eCR:

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), (SARS CoV-2)
Measles (Rubeola)
Mpox (positive, negative, and all other results)
Legionellosis
Haemophilus influenzae, all types, invasive disease (H flu)

Steps to Onboarding eCR

Step 1: Initial Orientation for Health Care Organizations

Confirm that your EHR system is on the Certified Health IT Products List.
Partner with your EHR system vendor to discuss implementing eCR.
Communicate your intent to report eCR by completing the state registration form linked here and emailing it to MUHelpDesk@dph.sc.gov.
Familiarize yourself with the materials for health care providers on the APHL eCR website.

Step 2: Technical Onboarding

Health care organizations using EHRs that currently support electronic case records can move forward with the CDC/APHL team for technical onboarding along with the assistance of their EHR system vendor.
- Please check the CDC – Getting Started with eCR webpage for a list of available EHR system products.
Health care organizations will have to establish a connection to the APHL AIMS platform during technical onboarding.

Step 3: Go Live and Validate Data Quality

Once onboarding is complete with CDC/APHL, the process of validating data quality begins at the state’s public health agency, the South Carolina Department of Public Health (DPH).
DPH will communicate with, and provide feedback to, the health care organization when DPH can successfully receive and review your messages and to discuss potentially turning off manual reporting processes.
- Note: DPH is actively working on the development of its state onboarding process. Once complete, this process will be disseminated to active eCR facilities.

Key Information

The following documents and links provide guidance for health care organizations seeking to send eCR messages to DPH:

For additional information or questions regarding the eCR at DPH, please send an email to muhelpdesk@dph.sc.gov.