INFORMATICS
APHL Informatics 101
by Rachel Shepherd, specialist, Informatics
As anyone in public health knows, the list
of informatics acronyms and buzzwords
seems to grow endlessly. To help you make
sense of APHL informatics acronyms,
phrases and concepts, we have defined a
few of the most commonly used below.
AIMS
The APHL Informatics Messaging
Services (AIMS) platform launched
in 2008 as a message router for
laboratories to transmit flu data to CDC
for surveillance. Since then, AIMS has
morphed from a connecting hub and
message router to a secure cloud based
environment that, through shared
services and tools, enables users to
transport, translate, validate, host and
route electronic data. AIMS serves as
the backbone of many major initiatives,
providing the technical infrastructure
to transport critical data.
Digital Bridge
An immense collaboration among
public health entities, systems vendors,
public health agencies and healthcare
providers, the Digital Bridge is a
national effort to develop a systematic,
widespread and sustainable approach
to using national electronic health
record data to improve public health
surveillance, and revolutionize the way
healthcare providers and public health
jurisdictions communicate.
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LAB MATTERS Fall 2019
eCR ETOR
Electronic case reporting (eCR) is
the automated generation and
transmission of reportable conditions
from electronic health record systems
(EHRs) from hospitals and medical
providers to public health agencies for
review and action. Electronic test orders and results
(ETOR) enables clinical laboratories,
public health laboratories and
healthcare providers to directly
exchange standardized test orders
and results across different facilities
and electronic information systems.
ETOR involves bidirectional orders and
results reporting using HL7 standards.
A completely automated ETOR speeds
communication of requests between
the submitter and the laboratory and
can reduce errors associated with the
transcription of orders and results
between systems.
ELR
Electronic laboratory reporting
(ELR) is the electronic transmission
of laboratory reports that identify
reportable conditions from laboratories
to public health. When these reports
are sent electronically, the improved
timeliness contributes to faster
intervention and reduction of manual
data entry errors.
ELSM
APHL, the US Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC), and the
laboratory community developed the
Elaboratory Laboratory Surveillance
Message (ELSM) to allow laboratories
to efficiently send surveillance data to
CDC in an automated manner.
LIMS
A laboratory information management
system (LIMS) is a software system that
enables the storage, organization and
retrieval of data and processes, with
additional features that support and
improve laboratory operations.
PHLIP
The Public Health Laboratory
Interoperability Project (PHLIP)
team developed the ELSM to send
influenza testing results to CDC,
a partner in the World Health
Organization (WHO) Global Influenza
Surveillance Network. n
PublicHealthLabs
@APHL
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