Two Tribal Public Health Agencies Begin Receiving Electronic Case Reports

CDC's electronic case reporting (eCR) team supports Tribal nations in connecting to eCR, strengthening their ability to make data-driven decisions and better protect the health of Tribal citizens.

The first two

The National Indian Health Board (NIHB) received funding through CDC's 1802 Cooperative Agreement, which aims to strengthen the public health system through national partnerships. With its first year of funding, NIHB made sub-awards to two Tribes:

Through the project, each Tribe decides which diseases are reportable to its public health agency, writes case definitions, connects to the eCR infrastructure and receives case reports about its citizens directly — building strong surveillance and exercising its right to Tribal health data. With those reports, both can better understand and respond to emerging health issues.

A long-standing barrier

A March 2022 Government Accountability Office report reaffirmed that Tribes and Tribal Epidemiology Centers are public health authorities, and described the serious obstacles they face in getting data, including infectious disease data needed for decisions. Even during the COVID-19 pandemic, vital data reached them up to 7 months late, hampering the emergency response. The eCR sub-awards gave Tribal public health agencies Tribal health data in near real time.

Stephanie Jay of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Public Health Department said eCR will greatly improve communication between health care providers and the Tribal health department, and that timely data will speed the response to possible outbreaks and support health equity — access to Tribal members' health data being essential for detecting, tracking, investigating and responding to disease.

Next steps

Both Tribes are sharing their lessons, best practices, successes, challenges and solutions with NIHB and CDC, which will help NIHB build a roadmap for other Tribes and Tribal Epidemiology Centers connecting to eCR. The eCR team plans to keep supporting current Tribal partners and help more Tribes, and other public health authorities serving economically and socially marginalized communities, get the data they need.

Sources

Rewritten from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention story "Two Tribal Public Health Agencies to Receive eCR Data" (public domain), in hubnx's own words; a Tribal health official's remarks are paraphrased.

• Words on this page from people and organisations outside the federal government are paraphrased; rewritten in hubnx's own words.