Laboratory Result Reporting

Certain diseases and events are declared to be communicable and/or dangerous to the public and are to be reported to the state or local health department by all hospitals, physicians, laboratories and other persons knowing of or suspecting a case in accordance with the provision of the statutes and regulations governing the control of communicable diseases in Tennessee (T.C.A. §68 Rule 1200-14-01-.02).

Laboratories can currently report either:

1. Manually, or
2. Via Electronic Laboratory Reporting (ELR)*

Reporting by laboratories does not nullify the health care provider’s or institution’s obligation to report these diseases and conditions, nor does reporting by health care providers nullify the laboratory’s obligation to report.

The Reportable Diseases and Events List is updated annually. A list of these conditions, diseases, and events can be found by visiting the Tennessee Department of Health Reportable Diseases (tn.gov) site.

For supplemental documentation describing lab observations of interest for the reportable conditions, diseases, or events in Tennessee, click HERE.

* In TN, ELR is the electronic submission of laboratory results thought to be indicative of a reportable condition, disease, or event, as described by the TDH, using interoperability standards.

Manual Lab Submission

Manually submitted lab reports can be faxed or mailed to either:

1. The TN Department of Health, Communicable and Environmental Diseases and Emergency Preparedness central office or,
2. The local health department.

Please visit the Tennessee Department of Health Reportable Diseases(tn.gov) site for timelines, mailing addresses, and fax numbers for the state and local health offices.

Manual lab reports submitted to the health department must contain certain minimum data elements, if known.  For a list of those data elements, click HERE.

Electronic Laboratory Reporting (ELR)

In TN, ELR is the electronic submission of laboratory results thought to be indicative of a reportable condition, disease, or event, as described by the TDH, using interoperability standards. The following sections detail the acceptable file formats, vocabulary, and identifiers accepted by TDH.

File Formats:

TDH requires the use of Health Level 7 International (HL7) version 2.x messages for electronic transmission of ELR data.

The preferred format of ELR data is HL7, Version 2.5.1 Implementation Guide: Electronic Laboratory Reporting to Public Health Release 1 (US Realm) with errata.  For a copy, please click HERE.

For information on HL7 standards and specifications, please click HERE.