Electronic Case Reporting (eCR) for Tribal Nations: A Tribal Data Sovereignty Project

ssembajwe@nihb.org

The National Indian Health Board is offering funding for tribal communities to begin directly receiving electronic case reporting (eCR) data or to improve processes and practices related to the use of eCR data already being received from state or local public health agency partners.

Public health authorities receive the following benefits from implementing eCR:

• More timely and complete data to support outbreak management and monitor disease trends
• Ability to efficiently monitor the spread of reportable diseases like COVID-19 or syphilis during outbreaks and public health emergencies
• Reduction in response time in dealing with public health outbreaks and other threats
• Improved communication and collaboration with healthcare through bidirectional data exchange

There are 2 funding cohorts.

• Category A: Implementation of Direct eCR Connection - Objectives include:
  • Assess current data management and data storage processes and identify needs and gaps to successfully receive and process eCR data
  • Establish the systems and processes needed to receive eCR data directly to the Tribal public health authority
  • Establish a set of criteria in the CSTE Reportable Conditions Knowledge Management System (RCKMS) that will be used by Association of Public Health Laboratories Informatics Messaging Services (AIMS) to send the designated eCR data of Tribal citizens directly to the Tribal public health authority
  • Establish the necessary internal processes to ensure timely and successful project implementation
• Category B: Strengthening Partnerships for eCR Data Exchange -Project examples include, but are not limited to:
  • Analyze existing public health-related laws and practices related to current eCR data sharing between Tribal and state/local public health entities in the region
  • Devise solutions to enhance existing eCR processes and workflows between Tribal, state, and local health departments
  • Develop mechanisms to use transmitted eCR data to enhance public health surveillance capacity, and disease investigation efforts across Tribal territories
  • Create data dashboards to track public health indicators
  • Use eCR and other data to conduct strategic analyses and plan public health action

Eligible applicants include:

• Federally recognized Tribes
• Tribal organizations
• Tribal Epidemiology Centers

Applicants must have a strong interest and/or demonstrated commitment to surveillance, data sovereignty, and/or eCR.

Award ceiling: $200,000 for Category A and $75,000 for Category B
Project period: 6.5 months
Estimated number of awards: 3 awards in Category A and 2 awards in Category B

Download the application instructions.

Email completed applications to ssembajwe@nihb.org.