The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as part of National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN), is developing a standard framework to support the electronic submission of health care-associated infections (HAIs) and antimicrobial use and resistance (AUR).

The article outlines three key challenges to collecting this data electronically and shares background and success stories on the sharing of Lab, ADT and pharmacy data. Future exchanges, currently under development, will utilize the Clinical Document Architecture (CDA). One reason for choosing CDA is its ability to provide semantic interoperability.

Lantana Consulting Group provided expertise on the use of CDA and supported development of the HL7 Healthcare Associated Infections CDA Implementation Guide, which includes guidance on electronic reporting of Bloodstream Infections Reports, Surgical Site Infection Reports, Procedure Denominator Reports and the ICU Denominator Report.