title: Findings from the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists' 2008 assessment of state reportable and nationally notifiable conditions in the United States and considerations for the future.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The State Reportable Conditions Assessment (SRCA) is an annual assessment of reporting requirements for reportable public health conditions. The Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have gained valuable experience in developing a centralized repository of information about reportable conditions across US states and territories.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This study examines the reporting status in states of nationally notifiable conditions used to inform public health and national surveillance initiatives.
  
  
  METHODS
  Conditions included in SRCA are updated annually by using a Web-based tool created by the CSTE.
  
  
  METHODS
  SRCA information for 2008 was reported from all US states, 2 cities, and 4 territories.
  
  
  METHODS
  Respondents included state or territorial epidemiologists (or designees) for reporting jurisdictions.
  
  
  METHODS
  Conditions were classified as explicitly reportable, implicitly reportable, or not reportable. RESULTS were tabulated to determine reporting statistics for the conditions nationwide.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The SRCA included 101 conditions recommended for national notification: 93 (92%) were infectious conditions, and 8 (8%) were other (noninfectious or crosscutting) conditions. Of nationally notifiable infectious conditions, 61 (66%) were explicitly reportable in 90% or more jurisdictions; only 2 (25%) noninfectious or crosscutting nationally notifiable conditions were explicitly reportable in 90% or more jurisdictions. Furthermore, 3 nationally notifiable infectious conditions were explicitly reportable in less than 70% of jurisdictions.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although most nationally notifiable conditions were explicitly reportable, we found that many of these conditions have implicit reporting authority in states. As notifiable condition surveillance moves toward an informatics-driven approach, automated electronic case-detection systems will need explicit information about what conditions are reportable. Future work should address the feasibility of standardizing the format of reportable disease lists and nomenclature used to facilitate data aggregation and interpretation across states.
authors: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia 30333, USA. raj3@cdc.gov
authors: Ruth
authors: R
authors: Jajosky
authors: Araceli
authors: A
authors: Rey
authors: Meeyoung
authors: M
authors: Park
authors: Aaron
authors: A
authors: Aranas
authors: Steven
authors: S
authors: Macdonald
authors: Lisa
authors: L
authors: Ferland