Impact of electronic laboratory reporting on hepatitis A surveillance in New York City

The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) coordinates the administration of timely postexposure prophylaxis (PEP) to contacts of hepatitis A cases, making prompt disease reporting especially valuable. Electronic laboratory reporting (ELR) has shown to improve timeliness of infectious disease reporting, and this paper aims to: (1) quantify the increase in the proportion of hepatitis A reports received electronically, (2) assess how implementation of ELR affected the reporting time of hepatitis A, and (3) assess how changes in reporting time impacted the ability to offer timely prophylaxis to contacts. From 2000-2006, the proportion of hepatitis A reports received via ELR increased during the study period to 35 percent, reporting time improved with a median decrease of 17 days, and DOHMH administered PEP to 299 individuals, a fourfold increase. Increased utilization of ELR provides timely disease data to health departments and can have a remarkable impact on public health surveillance and response.