Mandatory Reporting Laws

August 17, 2018 | Ambulatory Care Risk Management

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Physicians, nurses, and other healthcare providers are subject to a variety of mandatory state and local reporting laws. This guidance article discusses three categories of reporting laws: mandatory reporting for public health surveillance, mandatory reporting for public safety purposes, and reporting to improve healthcare quality and patient safety.

The United States has a physician-based public health surveillance system that relies on physicians to report certain diseases and conditions to appropriate health agencies. Reported data are used for statistical analysis, planning, budgeting, research, tracking, and investigation. The legal authority to require reporting of notifiable infectious and noninfectious diseases and conditions resides in the respective state legislatures and, as such, state, territory, and local requirements may vary. Healthcare providers are required to report diseases, conditions, or outbreaks as determined by local, state, or territorial law and regulation and as outlined in each state's list of reportable conditions. Thus, physicians have two motives to report diseases and conditions to public health agencies—to benefit the health of their patients and the public and to comply with reporting laws and regulations.

Public health officials from the states and territories collaborate with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in determining a list of diseases and conditions that should be under national surveillance. This list is designed to reflect the current needs and priorities for public health surveillance at any given time. See Resource List for more information on CDC's National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System, including the annual list of notifiable infectious diseases and noninfectious conditions. CDC publishes tables of weekly and annual data on notifiable diseases and conditions in a variety of sources, including WONDER, data.cdc.gov, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, CDC Stacks, and topic-specific collections.

To promote public safety, nearly all states have enacted laws that require physicians and other designated "mandated reporters" to report confirmed or suspected cases of certain conditions or occurrences, such as child or elder abuse, to state or local authorities for investigation or other action. State mandatory reporting laws vary in terms of which conditions must be reported and by whom. The following is a list of conditions or occurrences that state...

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