Disease Reporting for Health Professionals
Mandated reporters are required to notify public health regarding patients with a suspected or confirmed reportable disease/condition, as defined by Kansas statute and regulation: K.S.A. 65-118; 65-128; and 65-6001 through 65-6007; as well as K.A.R. 28-1-2 and 28-1-18. All reports are confidential and shall not be disclosed or made public, upon subpoena or otherwise, beyond the requirements of K.S.A. 65-118 and K.S.A. 65-119. Questions? Call the 24/7 KDHE Epidemiology Hotline at 877-427-7317 or email the team.
COVID-19 Update
As of May 11, 2023, laboratory testing* and cases of COVID-19 are no longer reportable to KDHE or your local health department; however, clusters or outbreaks remain reportable to allow public health officials to aid in containment, providing testing free of charge, infection prevention guidance, and technical assistance. Report clusters or outbreaks by calling the Epidemiology Hotline at 877-427-7317, option 5.
*Testing partners, including Community Testing Partners and reference laboratories contracted by the State of Kansas, should continue to send COVID-19 results. Contact your KDHE program manager with any questions on reporting.
Diseases Reportable Within Four Hours
As outlined in K.A.R. 28-1-2, mandated reporters are required to report some notifiable diseases or conditions to KDHE by telephone within four hours of the suspected case. This includes reporting prior to receipt of lab results or confirmation of diagnosis. Report the following within four hours to the KDHE Epidemiology Hotline at 877-427-7317, option 5:
- Clusters, outbreaks, or epidemics of any disease
- Any exotic or newly recognized disease
- Possible terrorist acts due to biological, chemical, or radiological agents
- Unexplained death suspected to be due to an unidentified agent
- Any unusual disease or manifestation of disease such as mpox or multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children associated with COVID-19 (MIS-C)
- The diseases or conditions specified as within four hours on the Kansas Notifiable Diseases List (PDF).
Diseases Reportable Within 24 Hours
Some diseases or conditions are required to be reported to KDHE or to your local health department within 24 hours or the next business day as required by K.A.R. 28-1-2. See the list of 24-hour reportable diseases as specified on the Kansas Notifiable Diseases List (PDF).
Case Reporting Authorization & Data
The HIPAA Privacy Rule allows public health authorities such as KDHE to have access to protected health information to carry out their public health mission. This practice is described in the preamble to the actual rule, which permits covered entities to disclose protected health information without individual authorization directly to public health authorities, including state and local public health departments, for public health purposes as specified in the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for the Privacy Rule 65F.R. p82526. Subsection 164.512 also explicitly permits disclosures to public health authorities for public health activities.
In addition, K.S.A. 65-118 and K.A.R. 28-1-2 require possible or confirmed cases of disease be reported to public health without individual authorization. The statute provides immunity for any civil or criminal liability from such reporting. Immunity from liability applies to all the information about the individual that mandated reporters share with the local or state health department. Mandated reporters shall report for each patient:
- First and last names and middle initial
- Address including city, state, and ZIP code
- Telephone number including area code
- Date of birth
- Sex
- Race
- Ethnicity: specify if Hispanic or non-Hispanic ethnicity
- Pregnancy status
- Date of onset of symptoms and diagnosis
- Type of diagnostic tests
- Type of specimen
- Date of and site of specimen collection
- Diagnostic test results, including reference range and all available results concerning additional characterization of the organism
- Treatment
- Clinician name, address, and telephone number
- Any other necessary epidemiological information and additional specimen collection or laboratory test results requested by public health
Laboratory Reporting & Submission Requirements
K.A.R. 28-1-28 requires any person who is in charge of a laboratory as specified in K.S.A. 65-118 for any disease/condition specified in K.A.R. 28-1-2 to report to KDHE using an automated, secure electronic laboratory reporting system for laboratory results performed or sent to a reference lab for testing. Laboratories must submit the following to the Kansas Health and Environmental Laboratories if the test(s) indicate(s) the presence of any of the microorganisms listed in the following order of preference: 1) isolates of positive cultures, 2) original clinical specimen from a patient, 3) nucleic acid, or 4) any other materials determined by the Secretary of KDHE:
- Carbapenem-resistant organism
- Candida auris
- Haemophilus influenzae if invasive disease
- Listeria species
- Mycobacterium tuberculosis
- Neisseria meningitidis
- Salmonella species
- Shiga-toxin producing Escherichia coli (STEC)
- Streptococcus pneumoniae if invasive disease
- Vibrio species
Electronic Laboratory Reporting (ELR)
When reporting to KDHE, laboratories should make every reasonable effort to provide the data elements as outlined, as well as email the KDHE Surveillance Team to establish electronic reporting.
- Test order using appropriate Logical Observation Identifiers, Names, and Codes (LOINC) terms.
- Test order date
- Test result
- Performed test – use appropriate LOINC terms
- Test result value
- For quantitative results, include units of measure. If applicable, code in Unified Codes for Units of Measure (UCOM) term basics.
- For qualitative results, use appropriate Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine-Clinical Terms (SNOMED-CT) term basics.
- Test result date
- PATIENT information as follows:
- ID
- First, middle initial, and last name
- Street address including zip code
- Phone number including area code
- Date of birth
- Age
- Race
- Ethnicity
- Sex
- Gender
- ORDERING PROVIDER information as follows:
- Name
- Address
- Phone number
- Performing laboratory name and CLIA number
- Performing laboratory address
- Accession number / specimen ID (unique identifier assigned to the specimen)
- Specimen source
- Specimen type. Use appropriate SNOMED-CT codes from the specimen hierarchy or HL70487 codes.
- Source site. When the specimen type is generic, such as a crust or a swab, it may be necessary to indicate where on the body this was taken from. Use appropriate SNOMED-CT codes from the anatomic body site hierarchy. In addition, more detailed topography like laterality may be needed. This can be included in the code for the source site or sent in as an additional element, properly coded using SNOMED-CT codes from the qualifier hierarchy.
- Specimen type. Use appropriate SNOMED-CT codes from the specimen hierarchy or HL70487 codes.
Reporting Forms
Kansas Online Reporting Disease System (KORDS)
The Kansas Online Reporting Disease System (KORDS) is for health care providers, laboratories, and public health departments to submit confidential electronic disease reports to KDHE. Conditions currently available for reporting is COVID-19. To access the portal or enroll, visit KORDS website. Questions? Email the KDHE Surveillance Team.
Elevated Blood Lead
The Kansas Environmental Public Health Tracking Blood Lead Surveillance program conducts blood lead surveillance for the state of Kansas. Providers that are not currently submitting blood lead testing results through a laboratory can submit blood lead testing results through the Blood Lead Reporting Portal. Questions on how to report or to establish reporting with the web-based portal can be emailed to the Lead Lab Reporting Team.
Sexually Transmitted Infections, Including HIV Reporting Forms
The Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI) / Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) Program works to stop the spread of STIs and HIV in Kansas. STI/HIV reports should be faxed to the STI/HIV Program at 785-559-4225. For additional information, contact the STI/HIV Surveillance Program by calling 785-296-6174 or by visiting the STI/HIV Program.
- Kansas Sexually Transmitted Infection Case Report Form (PDF)
- HIV Perinatal Exposure Report Form (PDF)
All Other Disease Reporting Forms
All other disease reports can be sent to the KDHE Epidemiology Hotline by faxing 877-427-7318 or to your county health department for 24-hour reportable conditions.
- Kansas Notifiable Disease Reporting Form (PDF)
- Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Reporting From (PDF)
- Multi-Drug Resistant Organism (MDRO) Reporting
- Perinatal Hepatitis B Reporting
- Pertussis / Whooping Cough Reporting Form (PDF)
- Varicella (Chickenpox) Reporting Form (PDF)
Electronic Case Reporting
Electronic Case Reporting (eCR) is the automated, real-time exchange of case report transmission from electronic health record (EHR) to public health agencies. The state of Kansas uses the HL7 electronic initial case report (eICR) standards R1.1 and R3 to support the CMS Promoting Interoperability regulations. It is these standards that we will use to eventually eliminate manual reporting requirements. In addition, KDHE will use the Association of Public Health Laboratories AIMS Reportable Condition Knowledge Management System to ensure appropriate reporting.
Provider Registration
Providers wishing to register their intent to submit eCR messages to KDHE should contact KDHE Epitrax Team and include your organization name and physical address, primary contact information, and EHR vendor name.